Mind Over Matter 2 the Visitor
by runa216
Summary: In an alternate universe, the yeerks are worse then ever. Thank god there are more animorphs....Special ones. this is where a lot of foreshadowing is done. I also added a chapter at the end, describing the events of book 1, the one you will never see.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1  
  
My name is Gordon. If you know me, than I am dead. If you don't, I am the world's only hope. I consider myself one of the guardians of the Earth. Me, along with seven of my friends. Jake, Rachel, Marco, Cassie, and Tobias. And you can't Forget Sam and Whitney. I hold Sam and Whitney in much higher respect than the others, because they seem to be set on doing their goal rather than worrying about some pitiful little moral issue.  
  
Don't get me wrong, I love Cassie to death, but she is so irritating when it comes to morality vs winning fights. She would rather do the moral thing than win a fight for her life. I respect that too though, the desire to do what's right. But there are limits. Yes, Cassie is our moral dilemma.  
  
I also respect everyone else's ways of doing things. Jake is our leader, in a way. We all just kind of laid that on him. Sam is already having problems with having a leader, but he will live, let him whine. Jake is a big guy, and responsible, that is why he's the boss. He is the only one who will get us out of a problem alive.  
  
Jake's best friend Marco is somewhat different. Completely different, actually. He is like me. He plays video-games. But he is usually the first to whine about things. Let him. He will be the one to live through this war, not me. I am far too wreckless.  
  
Rachel is a lot like me in many ways. Her attitude drips indifference and her passion is flaming. She is always ready for a fight. Just like me. Marco likes to call her Xena, for understandable reasons. She may look like an airhead, but don't accuse her of it, she will rip your face off and use it as a napkin. Rachel is Cassie's best friend, they are complete opposites.  
  
Then, one of my best friends, is Tobias. Well, what can I say? He is quiet, smart, understandable, and he is a bird. Hard to explain, but he has a thing for Rachel, and who wouldn't.  
  
The last two members are somewhat interesting. Sam and Whitney. Whitney is a short cute little thing. Black hair and brown eyes. She has the fighting spirit of Rachel ,the responsibility of Jake, and the quick thinking of Marco. She is a qualified genius at our school, higher than I was when I went to school. Actually, my IQ is higher, but it showed much more on her. I was gifted and lazy, so I never did any work. She was gifted and motivated, so she gets the marks.  
  
My favourite Animorph isn't even an Animorph. It is Sam. He is the only one to not acquire our power, but I would trade mine for his. Us Animorphs were given the power to morph into any animal that we can touch. All we have to do is acquire the DNA of the animal and we can morph it. We use these powers to fight an invisible invasion.  
  
Now, let's back up a bit. What is all this and why haven't I heard about this yet. Well, let's start from the start. Long ago in a galaxy far far away, there was a species called andalites. They fight the yeerks in space, keeping them at bay. But they have made their way here.  
  
Yeerks are a parasitic species of slugs that can squish themselves into our brains and control us. We don't die, but we might as well be dead, because we can't do anything on our own when we have been infested. And don't even think ,'oh I have good willpower, I could do it!" because you couldn't. It is something biological. They don't persuade you to do things, they connect to your nerve endings in your brain and control from there on. They also can read your mind.  
  
These yeerks are among us in secret because they can pass ourselves on as us in modern society by using the memories in our brain. They don't act us, they become us. They're only weakness is the fact that the only nutrients they get are absorbed directly through their skin, and to do that, they need to exit the host body and proceed to swim in something we simply call a yeerk pool. A huge underground lake that looks like molten lead. In there, they drain out of their host and swim around in the pool for a couple of hours. They need to do this once every three days or so, or they will die. About a three day limit.  
  
While the living world is completely in the dark, we fight. We fight with all our hearts. We have only been fighting for a month, but we have suffered our first casualty, Tobias. He overstayed his visit in red-tail hawk morph. There is a limit of a little over two hours. He was in morph all night when we first fought the yeerks at the yeerk pool.  
  
Now he is a hawk, and will probably be a hawk for the rest of his life, but we hope the andalites will have a way to fix that.  
  
As the story goes, we found out quite a bit of information about the yeerk pool and how to get in. We also found out that the yeerks are secretly running under the co-ed little thing called the sharing. A boy scout/girl guide thing for all ages. It is the kind of club that tells you that you can be better than what you are and tries to convince you that you can be part of something better, then they try to make you let them put a yeerk inside of you to control you. I know that is a lot to absorb, but it is true.  
  
After the yeerk pool battle, I went home to sleep, when I saw a couple of vans across from my house. They were yeerks. I don't know how, but they had figured out my identity and were searching my house. My dad was out for the week, so they didn't get him. But my two best friends were investigated and were also taken. They were Sam and Tobias. Sam was captured by us first so we had his help. Tobias was stuck in morph, so his identity was dead anyway.  
  
When we went to find Sam, he was up bright and early in a harmless round of paint-ball with his other friends. We got there just in time and were forced to destroy two bug fighters in a forested paint ball arena. Many people saw this, but most of them died. I don't know how it was covered up by the yeerks, but it was.  
  
After that, sam told us of his reconnaissance missions, spying out our friendly neighbourhood sharing organization. He knew an awful lot about the yeerks. We were cautious to trust him at first, but we kept him for three days and proved him to be safe. After seeing his talent in battle, even without any morphing capabilities, we went to his house to pick up his sword and dagger collection.  
  
We had a small fight in his backyard and the other Animorphs were there to help us. It was a reckless move on our part, but I have decided to allow sam to participate in battle. I was useless, but I managed to hold my own with two hork-bajir for a good minute. I was slashed up badly at the ankle, but I discovered I could morph a selected part of my body and return it to normal. Cassie can partially control the way she morphs, and that is seen as a talent. I could partially do it, but I decided to keep it to myself.  
  
Anyway, we were deciding to plan our next move when we decided to let ourselves have a little vacation for a while. We were all flying the skies as various birds of prey. 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
  
I was a peregrine falcon, same a s Jake. Cassie and Marco were identical ospreys. Rachel was a Bald eagle and Whitney was a Golden eagle. Tobias was a red-tail hawk. We were all flying around with nothing on our heads but the clouds. Being a falcon was incredibly fin and seemed to have no boundaries, at least when you were as quick and agile as a falcon.  
  
{Isn't this great?} I yelled to the others as I swooped down to the side.  
  
{Yeah, this is quite possibly the best thing in the world!} Marco yelled back. I couldn't tell which osprey he was so I couldn't tell you anything about what he was doing.  
  
I started flapping as high as I could. {Anyone up for a dive race?} I challenged.  
  
{Come on Gordon, you know you have the fastest morph of us all, why do you even bother? You have won the last ten times.} Whitney stated.  
  
{I know, but it is still fun.} I went into a dive and then noticed that Jake was alongside me until I flared to a stop. Jake also had a peregrine falcon morph, so he was just as fast as me.  
  
{This is great!} Jake yelled. {Whoo-hoo!}  
  
{Yeah, this is great.} I added. Snowboarding, rollerblading, no extreme sport could compare to this. Maybe skydiving or something, but not even close.} I said.  
  
Then there was Cassie, {Can't anyone stop and appreciate the way this body works. So small and delicate, but strong and agile.}  
  
{You can't tell me that even now you are thinking about that. Can't you just sit back, relax, and have fun?} Whitney asked.  
  
{Good point, this is by far the most fun I have ever had.} Cassie answered. {But doesn't it just eat you inside that people's lives are figuratively ending as we speak, we are the only ones who can help them, and we are having fun?}  
  
I thought about it for a minute. {Nope, not really.} I answered.  
  
{That's heartless!} Whitney spat.  
  
{I don't see how, people die all the time, and I am not there to save them all. Even while we fight, people are being enslaved. You have to take it into perspective. At least we are fighting. It would be different if we were just ignoring it. There is nothing we can do. If we had a better lead, then we could do something.}  
  
{We have Melissa, she is at least something.} Rachel said.  
  
{I know, but we can't do anything in plain day. It would be suicide, well, not really.} I said.  
  
BOOM!  
  
Suddenly I felt an incredibly sharp pain in my wing. Before I knew it, I was falling to the ground and I couldn't stop myself from falling faster and faster.  
  
{Who was that? Jake, are you all right?} Cassie screamed.  
  
{I'm fine, I think it was Gordon.} he said.  
  
THUD! I hit the ground as another shot was fired. BOOM!  
  
I was incredibly dazed and could barely move. Thank god I wasn't to far up or I would have died. I started to demorph slowly, because I was not thinking well. Slowly the feathers were sucked up and my bones were shifting to their own positions.  
  
{When we hear the next shot, everybody crank hard to the right.} Whitney instructed.  
  
{How do we know where the shooting is coming from?} Rachel asked.  
  
{Simple,} Marco answered. {Just look to the ground to see where the flash comes from. That's where it's coming from.}  
  
I continued to demorph and my bones became thicker. In a total of five long minutes, I was human in my tight little bodysuit. I was still kind of dazed, and I was surprised.  
BOOM!  
  
I estimated the direction to the blast.  
  
{Everybody move!} I heard Jake instruct everyone in the air. But I wasn't worried about that, I was pissed. Someone was shooting at me and they were going to pay. They could have killed me. Damn it! I don't go down easily.  
  
{It's a bunch of guys in a jeep. Drunk, by the looks of it.} Rachel said.  
  
{We're endangered species.} Cassie exclaimed. {Why would they shoot at us?}  
  
{Who cares.} Whitney said, {We need to teach them a lesson.}  
  
{Whitney, where are you going?} Jake asked.  
  
{What did I say? I am teaching a couple of scumbags a lesson.}  
  
{I am in for that.} I heard Rachel agree. I didn't care, I was going to get them first.  
  
{Gordon!} I heard Tobias yell at me. He was obviously looking for me. {Come on, I need you to answer.}  
  
{Yeah, come on, no jokes.} I heard Marco add. I still didn't care.  
  
I saw the Jeep, and I began to run. Suddenly a couple of birds came shooting out of the bush. One grabbed one of the guys' hat. The other took a can of beer. These guys were obviously drunk.  
  
I jumped onto a cooler in time to see the surprised look on one of their faces. I went from cooler to floor of open door into a dropkick of one sitting on the other door. He fell off the side. The other two guys were on the hood of the car. They stared at me for a minute then tried to grab me. Too late, I was up and over into the back seat out of their way. I jumped onto the backrest of the front seat and landed a quick kick to the side of one guys head. He fell off the side of the truck holding his ear.  
  
"Damn, Man!" He whined.  
  
The other guy was up and tried to punch me he missed and started to stumble off the hood of the truck. I grabbed his hair and kneed him in the face. I let go and kicked him in the chest. He fell off the hood and hit the ground hard. The other guy was still holding his ear. I jumped off the hood of the jeep and onto the guy's back.  
  
"Teaches you guys to shoot at the birds. Rotten little bastards." With that I turned and ran. 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3  
  
I continued to run as fast as I could to the predetermined meting place. It was an old run-down church. It wasn't exactly falling apart, but it was dirty and useless. There was a small clearing from the trees and a nice little meadow. Cool little place. I walked in the front door. I saw Sam there with a little pile of sticks in front of him. As soon as he looked down from them, they crumbled and his eyes dimmed from a bright glowing red.  
  
"Back so soon?" He asked. "I heard a gunshot."  
  
"Yeah, that was me. I got shot down. I guess that will be the last time I fly for fun. I got them though." I explained.  
  
"I hope you didn't hurt them. Jake will be mad."  
  
"I don't care. Chances are, you could go out in that bush and find a small piece of bird wing. Pretty bad."  
  
"Well, good luck to you." he said. Just then I heard a fluttering in the old bell tower.  
  
{What happened to you?} Tobias demanded. {We were looking for you, and why did you attack those guys?}  
  
"I was teaching them a lesson, we are endangered animals." I said, quoting Rachel.  
  
{Maybe so, but it was a little severe.}  
  
"You try being shot, it makes you mad, I guarantee it." I told him.  
  
{Whatever. Anyway, everyone is coming back now, they should be here any time.}  
  
"Hey Gordon, I was thinking," Sam started, "Maybe we should live here. We could fix it up and call it home. We wouldn't be stealing, and nobody would come around here to see us. Plus, there is no risk of anyone following us to Cassie's place. It would be safer there and, well, it pretty much speaks for itself."  
  
{I don't see why you would want to do that. I mean...never mind.} Tobias said.  
  
"What do you mean?" I asked, then I figured it out. "You are worried about how we will take care of ourselves. Isn't that sweet. But don't worry, I will get a job if I have to. No problem, I can work somewhere that doesn't ask too many questions. Sounds good to me."  
  
"Are you still talking?" Sam asked.  
  
{He tends to talk even after you are done listening.} Tobias added.  
  
I heard a group of birds fluttering in the bell tower. The great thing about the bell tower is that although you can fly in through it, even though it doesn't let rain in. I guess it would be a good place to stay, for a while.  
  
{Gordon, are you here?} I heard Jake call in.  
  
"I'm here." I answered. "Don't worry about me."  
  
They all came in and fluttered to the ground. {When did you get here?} Rachel asked. {We were looking for you.}  
  
{Yeah, why did you go psycho?} Whitney asked. {those guys were drunk.}  
  
I couldn't believe even Whitney didn't understand what angle I was coming from. "Look, if I didn't teach them a lesson, you guys would just steal their beer cans or something."  
  
{It doesn't matter. We would have dealt with it.} Jake explained. {It was not your place to decide.}  
  
"I was the one who suffered their wrath. I lost a wing and was barely conscious for a while. If it wasn't for luck, I would be a pile of bird right now. I was mad at the time." I tried to explain rationally and slowly.  
  
{I see where you are coming from, but please, learn to control your temper.} he said as him and all the others began to demorph.  
  
"I will try, but it isn't always easy. I lost my family, my friends, and my life. I am a little on the edge."  
  
{I understand that. I lost my family two years ago.} Marco said as he demorphed. {My dad went into a slump and didn't care about anything but me. Don't worry, you will get over it.}  
  
His words made sense to me, but I was too pre-occupied. "Sam and I have decided that we are going to live here for a while." I told them.  
  
Cassie had just finished her morph, "Why don't you guys stick around the barn for a while? I can bring you guys food and such until you can afford a place to rent."  
  
"I appreciate your offer Cass, but I think it would be safer for us to stay out here for a while." Sam explained, then went on. "We are currently on the Yeerk's most wanted list, and if we are seen in any way, they will follow us. If we live at the barn, they will follow us to your place, they catch you and that is the end of us."  
  
Cassie nodded thoughtfully as Whitney responded. "But I don't think we can get a job for food any time soon. I know you Gordon. You eat like a horse."  
  
I looked away nonchalantly. "I guess, but I can find a way to eat until you get me a licence. Don't worry. Plus, I have to acquire somebody so I can go around safely in public."  
  
The rest of them had just finished demorphing and were getting their real clothes. These morphing suits were horrible. Thank god I had an extra couple of pairs at Cassie's.  
  
"Anyway, we will be staying here for the night. Come over tomorrow and we will be trying to fix up as much of this as we could." Sam told them.  
  
{I will stay here for a while. See what I can do to help.} Tobias said.  
  
"That may be hard for me and Whitney, but we will try. We have a gymnastics practice around noon, but we will try to make it out here and maybe help." Rachel said.  
  
"I have some family stuff this weekend. I should probably be home right now." Jake said. "Anyway, good luck. I hope you two make it out here alright." He said as he left, Marco by his side.  
  
"Yeah, good luck." Marco added.  
  
As the last of them left, I let out a sigh of relief. "Thank god, they are gone. Let's get started." I said to Sam.  
  
"Why now? I mean, can't it wait until tomorrow? We have to get all our stuff from Cassie's first." He said.  
  
{Won't that be a little dangerous in the broad daylight?} Tobias asked from the bell tower.  
  
"Nope." I said easily. "Sam has his trench-coat and I can morph. We won't be seen."  
  
He just hind of thought-speak sighed. {Look, we are not worried about being noticed, we are worried about being seen. If Cassie's dad sees anyone suspicious, then he will investigate. You need to go at night.}  
  
"He has a point." Sam said.  
  
"Well, what are we going to do? Neither of us particularly want to do any work here right now and we have nothing else to do." I said. "And any plans I would have made are now delayed to tonight."  
  
"Let's go to town and see who's hiring. You can scope for a job, but you can't go in." Sam said. "You might as well get a start on things."  
  
"Alright, thank god the clothes I have are really baggy. The hoody is a good touch." Sam gave me a funny look. "What? I'm not allowed to call it a hoody?"  
  
"Let's go." Sam said. "I need a walk." He started to leave. I followed him. 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4  
  
We made it up-town. Me in my grubby looking hoody and ripped jeans. Sam in his surprisingly clean paint ball cloak. It also had a hood on it. We were shrouded from the world, which was safe for us.  
  
We looked around all day. From one store to the other. Nowhere was hiring, not yet.  
  
"This is hopeless. All the stores in a town this size, and not one of them is hiring?" I complained. "What use is a fake I.D. if you can't get a job?"  
  
"You can't be telling me that you are giving up already?" Sam said. We have only been on a quarter of the town. Besides, Tobias said he would scope out some places that you might like on the other areas of town."  
  
"I know, but this in the only place where I can get at easily from where we 'live'."  
  
"Come on, you can morph, I can't. A quick trip across town and you will be anywhere in town. A simple trip is enough to deal with, isn't it?" He asked.  
  
"Well, the way you put it, it sounds easy. But I have already thought about it. Where would I put my clothes? How would I keep them hidden? Nobody wants to see me in the same smelly clothes every day."  
  
"I know, but neither do I. We will find something. You could always hide them nearby." "What did I just say? I have no intention of wearing the same clothes every day."  
  
It went on like for that for a while. We both eventually decided that I would find the closest friend that I could trust and hide it there, depending on where the placed was... if I even got a damn job. After about ten minutes or so of debating, Tobias called to us, {Hey, guys! I think I found a job for you.}  
  
I looked at Sam. "You heard him, right?" I asked.  
  
"Yeah. Let's go."  
  
{Follow the little red birdie.} Tobias said to us. {It's not too far away.}  
  
Tobias was flitting from rooftop to rooftop. We were just kind of half assedly looking at him and staring at the ground. He was describing the place. {It's a trucking company. They are looking for someone to work in the warehouse. A full-time/part-time guy, I think the note said. It was a billboard. I don't know what that means. The name of the company is DeJong.}  
  
"I hope I get the job." I said. "This would really be helpful to both of us."  
  
"Don't go too fast. We still have to get an I.D. and a morph." Sam pointed out.  
  
"I have the morph under control." I said. I raised my finger to the sky. Just one minute. Tobias stopped moving. "Watch, it's easy." I walked into the seven-eleven. And started browsing. Sam kind of followed in my lead. After about ten minutes, the store manager asked us if we were planning on buying anything. We told her we were browsing. She told us we had five minutes. At the rate the people were going in and out, I would have my target in no time.  
  
Out of nowhere, a group of five people came in and started browsing. I smirked. I walked over to the toughest looking guy. For a second, I wondered how I would make a little touch seem innocent. When he grabbed for a bag of chips, I 'accidentally' grabbed the same ones, and for that split second that our hands touched, I concentrated on acquiring his DNA. He stopped for that split second and his eyes kind of glazed over. When I let go, he almost immediately glared at me. I backed away.  
  
"Sorry." I said, "My mistake."  
  
"You damn right it's your mistake. He glared at me for a minute, then turned away and paid for his food. I got Sam and got out of there.  
  
When we got outside, Sam said, "I can't believe you did that. A group of punks, probably."  
  
"Well, I needed a morph. He looked like he could look respectable in society if dressed right. He was fairly stocky and looked strong."  
  
"Anyway, we need to get going. Tobias is probably waiting for us."  
  
I scanned the sky for Tobias. I couldn't see him at first, but I could hear him. {What took you guys so long. The sun is going down. We need to get this done with soon. I just need to show you where it is. And see if you are interested in it.} He said.  
  
We continued to walk after Tobias until we were just outside of town. We walked only about five minutes out of town on a small highway. We found a large parking lot with a huge building a nd a sign. 'DeJong' it read. I read the other sign below it. 'Help Wanted. Full-Time/Part-Time warehouse worker.  
  
"Looks good to me." I said. "I will go in as soon as I can. I hope Whitney gets my I.D. ready soon."  
  
"I hope so too. We need to go back to Cassie's place now." 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5  
  
As we walked across town. I was planning how we would get into Cassie's barn. I knew it wasn't that big of a deal, but if we were caught, we could very well be in a lot of trouble. The sun was down and the moon was shining through the smog of the town. Anyway, as we walked through town, I saw a bunch of guys down the alley. As I walked past, I realized they looked familiar.  
  
"You got a problem?" one of them asked. I realized it was the guy I had acquired at the seven-eleven. He walked out of the alley with his buddies.  
  
"And your problem is what?" I asked him.  
  
Without warning, he swung out at me. I backed up a bit and he missed me. "Are you drunk?" I asked. "Can't hit a target?" I looked over at Sam and he was slowly shaking his head. The guy swung again from the other direction and I dodged it again.  
  
WHACK!  
  
It hit Sam in the side of the head. "What the hell was that for?" Sam asked.  
  
"You Kids got attitude, we will have to teach you to a lesson." He swung at me three more times and I dodged all three of them. I just gave him a dirty look.  
  
"You're friend is going to get a beating." He said to Sam. Two of his friends came for me and the other two grabbed Sam. He didn't struggle. I just laughed. The leader backed away and his two thugs came forward and cracked their knuckles and necks.  
  
"What, are you two from the eighties? Couldn't you at least try to shoot me or beat me down with a metal pipe?"  
  
"We don't need to." He said. Then one of the thugs punched for me and I dodged. The other punched and I dodged it too. Then I ducked and kicked one in the chest. He fell on his ass and I got up. The other guy swung at me and I ducked and thrust forward and buried my knee in his breadbasket. I then brought my elbow down on the back of his neck. He fell like a brick.  
  
The other guy was getting up and I kicked him in the face and he fell too. I put my foot on the guy's neck and grabbed his arm. I yanked it up and heard him scream.  
  
"Do you want me to let go?" I asked the 'leader'.  
  
"Leave him be, your fight's with me."  
  
"And you think that will do anything? I just put both your guys down without breaking a sweat, you think you can beat me?"  
  
"Of course." He said as he pulled out a pair of nunchakus.  
  
"Ooh, you're a real punk now." I smiled and picked up a metal pipe that was leaning up against a dumpster. I don't know what it was doing there, but it was there and it proved to be useful. It was about five feet long, for a reference. He swung them at me and I hit it with the pole, spun around, and lightly hit him in the back of the head. I jumped around looking like an idiot, taunting him.  
  
"I thought you wanted to fight?" I taunted, "I thought you were supposed to be tough?"  
  
He gave me a dirty look and came at me with the nunchaku. I stepped to the side and dug one end in the ground. He almost tripped over it. While he was stumbling around, I hit him in the back of the head gently. Then I brought the other end around and pulled his feet out from under him. I helped him down by pushing him down with the other end of the pole.  
  
"HMPH!" he growled, kind of. "Get him!" He yelled to his two standing goons who were holding Sam. They let go of Sam and came after me. I stood there, defiant.  
  
Right before they got to me, they were thrown to the side from an invisible force. When they moved, I could see Sam's eyes glowing red, but were dimming. "Let's go." he said to me.  
  
We walked slowly across ywn. "Sorry." I said.  
  
"For what?" He asked.  
  
"For getting you involved and taking it too far." I answered.  
  
"It's nothing, they started it." He answered. "You were just doing what you needed to do to defend yourself."  
  
"I know, but I took it too far. I might have hurt them."  
  
"Once again, they started it and deserved whatever it is that they got. Just leave it alone. We have to go to sleep soon. There is a huge day ahead of us."  
  
We continued to walk home. We ended up just outside of town by the bush where we now lived. We had to go into the forest far from where we lived and from Cassie's house so that nobody would follow us and track us to where we were actually going.  
  
Right before we hit the tree-line, I heard a soft fluttering above me. {Hey, guys. I was wondering why those extremities were necessary.} Tobias asked.  
  
"You could see us?" I asked meekly.  
{Kind of. Hawk eyes aren't that good in the dark, but I could get the gist of it. That was a little extreme, wasn't it?}  
  
"Not really." Sam answered for me. "It was merely self defence."  
  
{Well, I would have to agree, but you got to understand, it was a little severe. You didn't need to use the telekinesis on them.}  
  
"We needed to go soon. We were in a hurry. It was a last resort." He defended us.  
  
"Who cares, it is in the past. Let's worry about the next coming weeks. We have a lot to do." I said, breaking up the topic. Tobias came and rested on my shoulder.  
  
{Sorry, I can't fly through the trees at night.} his talons were digging into my shoulders, but I didn't care. He was right.  
  
We walked through the trail and to our little old 'house'. When we got there, our blankets were already laid out for us and were ready. Tobias slept in the rafters, and we slept on the floor. That night I slept well.  
  
"Looks good to me." I said. "I will go in as soon as I can. I hope Whitney gets my I.D. ready soon."  
  
"I hope so too. We need to go back to Cassie's place now." 


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6  
  
The next morning I awoke to wolves howling. I got up and looked around, then I realized that it was still really, really early. It was still night. Sam was sleeping on the floor still. "Wake...." I was going to wake him up, but then I decided not to. Then I changed my mind again. I knew sam liked wolves a lot. "Wake up." I said, in a tone just above a whisper. He wouldn't get up.  
  
"Get up!" I urged as Io kicked him lightly in the side.  
  
"What do you want?" He asked grumpily. Just then, the wolves howled.  
"That." I said.  
  
"You woke me up to hear wolves?"  
  
"No, get up. They are right outside the door."  
  
"That one wasn't. I could tell." He laid back down. "Go back to sleep."  
  
"The one that woke me up was right outside the door."  
  
"So what?" He grumped. "Go back to sleep and leave me alone!" He curled back up in his sleeping bag. But I stayed up and watched out the window of the door.  
  
The wolf that was just outside the door was sniffing at the door. I guess it couldn't hurt to check things out.  
  
After a while, I decided to hit the sack. They weren't getting in. Besides, there was no reason to be worried. They were smart animals.  
  
As I lay there, I began thinking about an article in the national geographic magazine. It was explaining about how wolves were better people than we were. Some of the examples were that if one was injured or sick, the rest of the pack would not leave it until it was better or dead. They can adapt to just about any habitat without altering it in any way. And in general were just better. They were more efficient and respectful than any other animal alive.  
  
These are the thoughts that keep me from going insane.  
  
The next morning, I woke up to Sam already up and pacing around the room. "Morning." I said to him.  
  
"Good morning, sleepyhead." He said."Time to get up. We are just about ready to start. We need to clean up all this junk wood and pile it outside. Then we need to work on cleaning up the little chairs that are stuck to the ground." He was pointing around and generally telling me what I already knew.  
  
"Sam, I get it. We need to completely clean this place out. But where will we put it all. If someone hears us, then we are toast. That can't be good, and we need to be as inconspicuous as possible."  
  
"I know how to handle myself in the wild. I have studied up on this with Steve. He is a hunter, and knows how to live in the wild." He told me. I already knew this.  
  
"Yes, but was Steve prepared to fight brain stealing aliens in the forest trying to be completely forgotten?"  
  
He just kind of shook his head. "Of course not, but between the two of us, we'll figure it out."  
  
"Let's get to work." I said.  
  
"I have been throwing random things out for the last fifteen minutes." He said.  
  
I got up and started picking up pieces of junk and throwing them outside. After about fifteen minutes, I went outside and stood there for a minute. Sam followed me.  
  
"What are you doing?" He asked.  
  
"Going to get Cassie and Rachel. Maybe even Whitney, if she is there." I told him as I turned around. Right at that time, my eyes were becoming sharper, better. And with them I could see that he understood. Then he leaned against the door.  
  
My nose and lips stretched and became a hard beak, and from them came a wave of little spines. I was assuming they were the parts that held the fluffiness of the feathers. I began to shrink and my legs turned hard. I could feel my already long toenails thicken and harden into the talons of the peregrine falcon.  
  
As soon as I was small enough, the feathers sprouted fur and turned grey. My still human-like bones of my arms shifted into the wings of the bird.  
  
There I was. A peregrine falcon in the middle of the forest. "I wish I could do that." I hear Sam complain from the doorway of the house. I will call it our house from now on.  
  
{Well, I would like o have your telekinesis, so I guess we are even.} I shot back, but in more of a teasing mood than an aggravating one.  
  
"I understand that, but my telekinesis is still being worked on. At the rate I am going, I will not be able to fully control it for a while."  
  
{I guess you could say that I have yet to perfect my morphing.} I replied.  
  
"Not really. It always works for you." He countered.  
  
{Yes, but little do you know, that coming with this body is a complete set of basic instincts. How to fly, what to look for in food, the hunger. Etc. I still have to work on controlling the animals basic mind. It is still there living with you. Not the memories or thoughts, just instincts.} I informed him. {But at the same time, it has been very helpful. If it wasn't for the bird's mind, I probably couldn't fly. It's kind of a double edged sword, but not necessarily a weapon.}  
  
"I think I get it, but I still wish I could fly." He said grumpily.  
  
{Hey, think on the positive side. If you learn to control it well enough, you can fly yourself.}  
  
"What?"  
  
{Nothing, I will explain later. Anyway. Pick me up and throw me up. Getting some headwind with these little wings is harder than it looks.}  
  
He came over and picked me up. The birds instincts were telling me to get away, but I repressed them quickly. "You are lucky." He said as he threw me directly up. And I agreed with the instincts and began to flap. It took me a few seconds, but I got above the treetops and looked down to see that Sam was going back inside the house.  
  
It was then that I remembered just how much better the falcons eyes were than my own. It was like switching from a tv from the fifties to a fifty inch plasma screen, but ten times better. And despite what some people believe, animals can see color.  
  
I flew around for about ten minutes before I remembered where I was going. The fun I was having proved to be dangerous. Remembering what happened last time, I went immediately to Cassie's. I saw the three of them lounging in a field beyond the horse range. I could see it wasn't fenced in. They were lounging under a big tree on chairs. Cassie, Rachel, and Whitney. All sitting there. I flew in and landed on a low branch.  
  
"Hi Jake." Cassie said. "Got any ideas yet?" I just stood there. "Guess it's not Jake. But peregrines aren't native to here, that's all." She defended.  
  
"No problem, I thought it was Jake too, but I didn't want to say anything." Rachel added.  
  
{It's me.} I said.  
  
Whitney turned around. "Ah, I forgot you and Jake had the same morphs." She said. "What are you doing here?" She asked.  
{Just Cruisin'.} I said.  
  
"Where's Sam?" Cassie asked.  
  
{Back at the house.}  
  
"You guys are movin' right in, aren't you?" Rachel asked.  
  
{Yeah, but we were wondering if you three could give us a hand. We are doing autumn cleaning. We need to get all of the junk out in preparation for us to buy things to put in there, we will be very comfortable soon.}  
  
"Sure." Cassie said, "We have nothing else to do, and we need to talk to you two too."  
  
{About what?} I inquired. (I like that word.)  
  
"Just mission stuff." She replied. "This and that. Updates and so on."  
  
Whitney got up and Rachel followed. "Let's go, it's a pretty nice day. Unfortunately, we have to go to school tomorrow, so let's go have a walk."  
  
They all got up and walked away. I would have followed or led the way, but they knew the way. I decided to meet them at home. 


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter7  
  
When I got there, Sam had already got a respectable amount of junk out. I landed and demorphed.  
  
"I thought your clothes didn't morph with you?" Sam wondered.  
  
"I know, but I was only sleeping in my 'morphing outfit'. It is skintight and somehow is involved in the morphing. I don't get it, but it works." I walked inside and put on some of the old, baggy clothes on. "Better?"  
  
"I guess. I really didn't care."  
  
"Oh well. Cassie, Rachel, and Whitney will be here soon. They apparently have some plans for getting at Chapman."  
  
"I knew that. We talked about it when we got my blades. Speaking of which, are they still around?"  
  
"Yeah, but they are hidden here somewhere."  
  
"You mean you don't know"  
  
"Oh I know, but they are hidden."  
  
"Yes, we have come to that conclusion. Where are they?"  
  
"Under some boards in that corner." I pointed to the corner opposite the door.  
  
"Good."  
  
We began to clean out some junk when I saw Whitney's head poke through the door. I just about hit her. "Oops." I said. She ducked and it missed.  
  
"I come over to help, and you throw junk at me." She said. "I feel like I'm not welcome."  
  
"Don't worry Whit, you are more than welcome." I reassured her.  
  
"So, what needs to be done?" Rachel asked.  
  
"We need to get rid of all this excess junk and wood laying around. Then we need to arrange the rest in an organized way so that we still have room." Sam told her.  
  
Cassie stepped up, "Well, the place isn't going to clean itself, let's get going." We all started.  
  
After about a half hour of straight work, we had all the loose boards and garbage in a five foot tall pile outside the door. The little one acre meadow was nice and sunny. I didn't want to burn all that wood here, so I decided to make a nice little sandpit behind the house in the bush. I understand that you are getting confused, but there was a one acre or so meadow out front of the building, and a bush surrounding the back. In front, meadow. Sides and back, trees, and lots of them. It was a nice little setup. Worthy of being called home.  
  
I stood outside for a long time looking at the front of the house. I was thinking about how much nicer it would be if we could paint it black or blue or something. Just then, Rachel came out of the house and asked me what I was thinking.  
  
"I wasn't sure at first, but I've decided we can't paint this place up and make it look good... at least on the outside." I explained to her.  
  
"You know, you are taking this way too easily. Just a week ago, you lost your life, and now you are getting into this whole nature thing? I don't get it."  
  
I sighed. "I know, but you have to understand, my life will b better out her than it ever was in that house. Plus, I have always wanted to live out in the forest. I think it will be good for building character." I said.  
  
She shook her head slowly and started to walk back inside the house. Then she stopped. "You know, sam is taking it really well too, but for different reasons. But do us all a favour and don't put too much stress on yourself. We all have enough on our plated as it is."  
  
I heard a fluttering in the trees. {S'up?} Tobias asked.  
  
"Not a whole lot, just doing some autumn spring cleaning." Rachel answered. "Where were you?"  
  
Come to think of it, I had completely forgotten that Tobias wasn't there when I got back. "You know what, Tobias, you need to be louder. I hadn't even noticed that you were gone."  
  
{I am very, very sneaky. Anyway, I was confirming with Jake about our plans.}  
  
"Yeah, we came here to tell you about the plans with Melissa. Come on inside." he went in and I followed her, Tobias on my shoulder. 


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8  
  
I went inside and everyone was sitting on benches in the corner. Rachel sat down on one beside Cassie and Whitney. I sat on the one with Sam and Tobias hopped off my shoulder onto the back of the bench.  
  
"Well," Cassie started. "We all know that Chapman is a relatively high ranking controller, right?" She got a murmur from the crowd. "Well, we need to get as much information from him as we can."  
  
"I don't get it? What's wrong with asking me?" Sam asked.  
  
"It has nothing to do with you. We have learned all that we can from you. What we need now is current news. Stuff that includes us. You had the general knowledge and we thank you for that."  
  
"Definitely." Rachel added.  
  
"But now we need to get some or information. Stuff on gatherings and plans. Some more evidence that they know of us."  
  
"I can do it." Sam piped up.  
  
"We need you here. I know you don't like to stay on the sideline, but we need you to sit this one out." Whitney said. Sam looked disappointed. "I know, but you are a strategist, you should know how to gather information."  
  
I started to think, "So, would you get to the point? How do we plan to get into the house?"  
  
"Simple." Rachel said. "Melissa has a cat."  
  
"Cool!" I said, a bit more enthusiastically than I had meant to.  
  
"Sorry, you aren't going out, Gordon. I am, she is my friend, and I have to do this." Rachel told me. I understood.  
  
"Yeah, I have no right intruding." I said.  
  
"Well, we can't really do anything until this Friday night. Everyone is busy or something. Friday is the best day. We will scope the place out, acquire the cat if possible, and maybe go in. If not, our weekend is booked." Whitney told us. I nodded my head in understanding.  
  
"If there are any problems, we pull out immediately." Cassie told me. "We are only in there for reconnaissance. No need for heroics."  
  
"I see. So, when do we go in?" I asked.  
  
"She just told you that." Sam said.  
  
I rolled my eyes. "I know."  
  
"So, anyway, we need to get going." Whitney said as she got up and everyone followed. "Later guys..." She said.  
  
I caught her before she made it out the door. "Hey, Whit." I said.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"I was wondering, when will you be able to get me the ID? I found a place where I would like to work and it will be hiring soon. So any time soon would be good."  
  
She shook her head. "OK, I will set up a date to get your picture taken in your morph, and you can get your three pieces of ID. Marco and I have already set up the accounts. You just need to get the picture. Don't worry, it won't take long."  
  
"Alright. Good to hear. I will be seeing you soon." I said as she left.  
  
{That went well.} Tobias pointed out from the rafters.  
  
"It did. I just want to know how she plans on professionally getting my picture for a licence or whatever."  
  
"It's pretty simple, her mom works at a school. The school has a driving school and licence bureau. They can take your picture there."  
  
"I didn't know schools had a way to give out licences."  
  
{Most don't, but the high school she works at does. You guys are too young to get licences, so a middle school wouldn't have one. The high school does.} Tobias explained. I understood now. It was simple.  
  
"I see. So, when should I go? She never said a date." Sam just shrugged his shoulders.  
  
"The way I see it, we have nothing to do for the week." He said.  
  
"What do you mean?" I asked.  
  
{Yes, what?} Tobias agreed. Sam had his little devilish smile on.  
  
"I think you know." He answered.  
  
I shook my head. "No, I don't."  
  
Sam sighed. "It's simple. We have nothing to do to occupy my time, so we should scope out Chapman and Melissa a little before they do. We could have a little bit of a lead before they do."  
  
"And what would that do for us?" I asked. He opened his mouth, but I interrupted him. "Absolutely nothing. I see no reason to jump the gun. Jake knows what he is doing, for the most part. And we have a home to clean up and prepare for our long visit. We have much better things to do than jump the gun." I said very calmly.  
  
Sam glared at me for a minute. "You really think Jake knows what he is talking about? He has been a 'leader' for less than a month now, and I have known about this for more than six months. I know how to gather details. I know you respect Jake, but I know how to deal with this. Besides, this will not take more than a week to clean up." He responded. Then sat down.  
  
I began to think, maybe Sam was right. I guess it wouldn't hurt. I decided to go with Sam's idea. 


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9  
  
Sam and I were practising our fighting again. I had discovered that he was getting surprisingly good with his telekinesis.... the hard way.  
  
We had decided to go weaponless in a fight. We had the whole thing going really strong, until he 'force pushed' me, as he liked to call it. Because that was exactly how it worked. An aimless push in a general direction.  
  
We began the fight by grappling. I ducked under him and brought my knee up into his gut. He fell to the ground for a second, but got right back up. Wheezing a bit, he said, "that was dirty."  
  
"I know, but that is just the way it is. You aren't going to learn by me being soft on you." I told him.  
  
"It was pretty even last time we fought. Why did you get me this time?"  
  
"I don't know.." I said, just as he jumped at me. I moved to the side, but he was expecting it. He stuck a foot in the ground and pivoted, turning to punch me in the jugular. Thank god I had really fast reflexes. I backed away in time to save my life, or at least my ability to breathe.  
  
I pushed away his fist and he punched again. I dodged it too. I backed away, but he was right on me again. I turned my back to him as he shot a fist towards me again, but I countered it. I grabbed it from over my shoulder and brought it into a hammerlock, but he flipped forward, escaping it. Then he turned around and lunged forward, bringing his knee into my gut. I was disoriented for a minute, but regained total consciousness in time to see him dash at me again.  
  
He did a jumping roundhouse, but I ducked. He followed through with another roundhouse, to my mid-section, but I did a rolling backflip, evading that too. When I was back standing, he was crouched down right in front of me. He brought a foot up to my chest. I backed up, trying to dodge it, but I tripped over a rock or something.  
  
I was laying on the ground on my back for only a second, when I saw a foot come crashing down on my face. I rolled out of the way in time to avoid the kick. I was on my belly now, so I pushed myself up, then brought my closer foot up to his chest. I was tired of dodging and blocking. I landed the kick and it sent him backward. I got up into a ready stance.  
  
I did a jumping back roundhouse to him, but he ducked under it. Then he parried into a lunging punch. But as I backed away, I used that same foot to kick him in the back of the head. We both fell to the ground on our stomachs. I was ready though. Once he was up on his feet, I did a donkey kick to his mid-section. Then I rolled over onto my back, but still held up by my feet and hands, to deliver another kick to the other side of his head. Then I pushed him away with the same foot. He flew back and landed on his ass.  
  
I got up and jumped on him. I originally only meant to land with an arm on his neck, but not to hurt him. I was about to call the battle. But instead, in that split second before I landed, I saw his eyes glow that dreadful red and his hand was facing up towards me. Oh, shit! I thought.  
  
I flew up and over him in a flip. I landed on my back, air blown out of my lungs. He got up and stood over me. His eyes dimming. You bastard! I thought. But oh well. He helped me to my feet.  
  
"I thought we decided that there would be no telekinesis." I whined. "that was unfair."  
  
"Well, seeing as how it was training, I guess it is fair to do that. You aren't going to learn if I go soft on you." He said, quoting me. I just smirked, huffed a laugh, and shook my head.  
"So, how's it feel?" He asked.  
  
I was surprised, and confused at first. "What?"  
  
"Being pushed with Telekinesis. What's it feel like? I hope it doesn't hurt."  
  
"Well. It kind of feels like someone is pushing you really hard with a very soft pillow. But without the fists and other hard parts that are pushing it. You know, like they are holding the pillow by the ends. But you can breathe. Why? Can't you just do it on yourself?"  
  
"No, I can't do it to myself. If I could, I would be flying, or at least practising controlled high jumps by now. It is still in work. It will be a while, too. But the flying will be achieved as soon as I can grip and push large objects. The telekinesis is only based right now on how much I can physically lift. You know?" He told me.  
  
"I guess. Anyway, I hope you learn it real soon. I want to be there the first time you fall on your ass." I laughed. So did he. 


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10  
  
The day was still fairly early. The sun shone it's rays down on all of us. Tobias, Sam and I. We were sitting beside a tree outside our house.  
  
{Pretty cool guys. How did you learn to do that? All that matrix stuff?} Tobias asked.  
  
"Simple." I replied. "Lot's of practice. Don't forget. That was all I did for about three years. I could beat up a black belt when I just started. All I ever got was first place in any tournament I was in. I was a master. Then, I had to give it up due to lack of money."  
  
{Don't you get money for those tournaments?} Tobias asked.  
  
"Nope, just respect. You actually have to pay to enter the tournament." I told him.  
  
{What about you?} Tobias asked Sam.  
  
Sam shrugged his shoulders. "I just kind of learned gradually over time. I taught myself. The internet has many uses. I know plenty other tricks. I can make a bomb out of household chemicals."  
  
{Where did you learn that?}  
  
"Once again, the internet has many uses. It's called 'The Anarchist's Cookbook.' That's where I got most of my recipes. Some I found otherwise or made up."  
  
{You are a deadly guy. I would hate to be your enemy.} Tobias said. {Oh, and by the way, I would personally appreciate it if you guys didn't try to get involved with the mission this Friday. It means a lot to Rachel that she does it. You know that.}  
  
"I know, but there's no harm in doing a bit of reconnaissance beforehand. All I want to do is check things out before we go in. I need to be a part of this war, you know I am a valuable asset to your cause." Sam said. "Did you know that Visser one and Visser three are mortal enemies? Bet you didn't. Did you know of something the yeerks call the council of thirteen?" He looked at us and I shrugged. "Didn't think so. Do you know of any places to enter the yeerk pool?"  
  
"No, and I don't want to either. That place was hell and I never plan on going back again. No matter the cost." I told him.  
  
He raised a finger and shook it in my general direction. "Ah, ah, ahhhhh. That's what you think. Most of the yeerk operations take place in that hell hole. If you want to fight for humanity, you will have to go down there. Get used to it."  
  
{Actually, I do know a few locations.} Tobias said. {What do you think I do when I'm not here? I track down known controllers and see where they enter and where they exit. I don't know the exact locations, but I can tell which building they are in. It's pretty simple.}  
  
"Congratulations. That is pretty smart. I guess we will have to help you out some time. I think that would be great. And a way to occupy our time. Otherwise, we have nothing to do."  
  
"Actually, that sounds like fun. We have nothing better to do." I agreed.  
  
{I know, but I guess there is a risk involved in it. You two could always be caught. But I guess we need the practice in hiding. At least you two do.}  
  
"Sounds like fun. Let's do it!" I said.  
  
{That's Rachel's line.} Tobias said grumpily.  
  
"Oh well. We got's some stuff to do."  
  
{Like what?}  
  
"Scope out a house." Sam said. With that, we all got up and left. Tobias didn't seem too impressed, but there was nothing he could do. We had mad up our mind and we were determined. We walked across town in the daylight. Sam and I had our little shaggy uniforms on. He had his denim, and I had my track suit. It was an interesting scene. Two bums walking downtown with a bird flitting from tree to rooftop to tree.  
  
By the time we had got to the suburbs, I was genuinely tired. It was a long walk from one end of town to the middle, straight on to the other side. It was a big town, and it wasn't like I could morph or take a bus. No money and I needed Sam there too.  
  
"God I hate the suburbs." I heard Sam mutter.  
  
{Oh, come on, I love the unyielding gridiron effect of the suburbs.} I heard Tobias say from above us, not that you could tell that he was above us. Thought speak only measures distance, not direction.  
  
"That is exactly why I hate it. It is the same thing over and over again. No room for individuality." Sam shook his head under the cloak.  
  
I nudged him. "Come on, gotta love the gridlock." He just shook his head again.  
  
{Well, if we are going to disobey Jake, we might as well get it over with.}  
  
I looked up to the sky. In the tree above me I could see Tobias in the higher branches. "Can you look for Fluffer McKitty for us? I want to acquire it. You know, just in case."  
  
Sam looked at me funny. "Why would you want to get yourself in trouble?" He asked.  
  
"Same reason I am fighting here. I want to help. Besides, wasn't it your idea to come here and scope things out?" I asked accusingly.  
  
"Well, Yes and no." He answered. "I wanted to come here and scope out the house itself. I want to see every escape route and access. That is all I care about. I didn't want you to acquire the damn cat."  
  
I dismissed him. "I am just being prepared." I told him.  
  
{I can see him.} Tobias said. {He isn't too far away from you.}  
  
"Can we catch him?" I asked.  
  
{I don't know, he is busy chasing down a rat right now. And from what I understand, this cat is a tomcat.}  
  
"So what?" Sam asked.  
  
{Well, that means it will be very defensive of it's territory and itself.} Tobias explained. {It will be a hard catch.} 


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11  
  
Tobias eventually chased Fluffer up a tree. I was the one who climbed up to get it. Of course, it wasn't one of those nice trees that had branches coming out the side near the ground. It wasn't nice. It was ten feet straight up, or at least it seemed, before there were any branches to grab. I had to shimmy up into the bulk of the tree.  
  
As soon as I got up to the top, I could see that the shimmying up the tree had left dark red marks on my arms. They stung.  
  
I could see Fluffer, he was up a few branches and a little out from the stump. Wouldn't be easy to get. I climbed up and went out on the branch. Thank god it was thick enough to support my weight. I shimmyed out the branch until I had pushed Fluffer out to a crotch of the tree. I reached out and tried to touch him. Slowly, so slowly. "Here kitty, kitty." I cooed in a soothing voice. "I'm not gonna hurt you." I reached out a little further.  
  
I could tell I was already in trouble when I heard the hiss of the cat. It was only a split second before I heard it until he had swiped at me. I couldn't get my hand out of the way in time. The cat's claws actually stuck in my fingers. It stung quite a bit, but it wasn't as bad as it seemed, because now I was mad.  
  
I pulled my hand to my body with the cat's claws still attached. I grabbed the cat with my other hand and started to concentrate on the cat. I could feel the cat slow down from the constant struggling. Right as I lost my concentration, the cat started squirming and slashing at my arm again. Really annoying if you ask me. I let him go with minimal cuts to my arm, but I made sure to throw the cat to the ground.  
  
I could hear Sam laughing quietly below me. "That's cruel." He said between laughs.  
  
Meanwhile, I was busy looking at my arms. Then I noticed what could be a severe problem. The vein right on the lower wrist, the one that depressed people slice, was cut right open in a jagged line. "Yeah, um Sam, I think I have a problem." I said as I sat down on the tree branch, leaning against the tree trunk.  
  
"What?" He asked.  
  
"I need to get back to Cassie's to get a band-aid or something. That damn cat sliced me open, and I think it would be serious."  
  
{How?} Tobias asked as he swooped in to land on the branch beside me. {It's just a cut.}  
  
"Watch." I said as I leaned over to put my hand above Sam. I left it there for a while until the blood began to drip off the end of my fingers.  
  
"Hey!" Sam shouted. "That's gross." He moved to the side and started to brush himself off. It wasn't doing anything.  
  
I laughed. "I told you it was serious." I began to crawl down the tree. When I got to the lowest branches, I grabbed hold and fell to the ground. It wasn't far, but it hurt my feet. And there was now blood running all down my arms and approaching my shoulders. I brushed most of it off, but there was still a stain.  
  
I put my big shirt back on, hoping to not have the sleeve touch my arm. I even kept it rolled up on my left arm, the one with the cut. It was irritating.  
  
"Yeah, that is cool. I wonder if it will scar?" He said.  
  
"I hope so. I like scars." I said.  
  
{Well, I don't see the point in scars. Kind of unattractive.} he said. Then, {Hey guys, I think I see Rachel and Cassie.}  
  
"Well, I think you would know in this light. I have been a hawk, and if they can be seen, then you can see them very well." I said.  
  
{Yeah, I am pretty sure it's them. They must be going for a walk or something. Let's go see them, maybe say hi.} Tobias suggested.  
  
"Alright. I can deal with that." I agreed. I could tell that they would be disappointed that we were out in town, and ask why, but I didn't care. I was having a great day. I quickly hid my hand in the shirt as soon as we got close.  
  
"Hi Cassie, hi Rachel." I said with a little more uppity than I had intended. They just looked at me funny.  
  
"What are you two doing here?" Cassie asked. "Shouldn't you be at home or whatever?"  
  
I shook my head. "Nope. Much more fun here." I said.  
  
"Well, you shouldn't be here, just to be safe." Rachel added in a hushed whisper.  
  
"I know." Sam said. "But we need to take risks, or life is boring."  
  
"I agree, let's drop the subject and continue to discuss the next mission. Then we can all go and have parfaits in the morning." I suggested. Rachel looked at me funny. I walked up to her and put my arm around her shoulder. "I can tell we are going to be good friends." I told her. Then I let her go.  
  
Cassie sighed. "Look, of course we will need to get along, but now we need to go back home. Now."  
  
I looked over at Rachel and noticed she was rubbing her neck and looking at her hand. At first, I wondered why, but then I realized my mistake. I had touched her with my bloody hand.  
  
"Gordon, why am I covered with blood?" She asked. She shook her head as Cassie came over and investigated my wrist. Her eyes widened.  
  
"What Happened?" She asked.  
  
I quickly searched for a lie. I would tell her the truth in the future, but not Rachel. "I cut it on a fence. The little uncovered piece of wire got a hold of my wrist and when I tugged, it ripped me up." I looked up, pretty pleased with myself. Sam laughed. "What's so funny?" I asked.  
  
"Nothin', it was just funny." He replied. "Reminiscing."  
  
{Um, guys, there is a bus coming soon. Does anyone have some cash to go to Cassie's?} Tobias asked from the sky.  
  
Cassie and Rachel found enough money between the two of them to get us all a ride to Cassie's. We had to run to catch the bus and Cassie almost fell on her face. We all got back to Cassie's place and she bandaged up the wound. If only I had thought of the ultimate solution earlier. 


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12  
  
The night was now. The first chapter of our next ordeal. The light was gone but the moon was out. There was clouds randomly blotting out the sky. It was an eerie scene. Sam wasn't there, we had decided it was too risky for him to be with us in one spot for too long. I could understand this, and I was glad Sam could too.  
  
It was Jake, Rachel, Marco, Tobias, Cassie, Whitney, and me. We were hiding a few blocks down from Melissa's house.  
  
{Okay, I see him!} Tobias said as he swooped down above our heads. {he is not far from here, over chasing some old cat way from his territory or something.}  
  
Jake rubbed his hands together. "Okay, let's get this show on the road."  
  
"We need to lure him to us." Cassie said, "Rachel, will you do the honours?"  
  
"Why me?" Rachel asked, "You are the one who's good with animals."  
  
Cassie laughed. "Well, I don't want to be the first one to interrupt a tomcat's way of life, I know how vicious they can get. Besides, you know the cat better than any of us."  
  
I started laughing. "Weere GON-NA, Drink and fight and drink and fight and drink and fight some more. I'll get kicked right out the door, I'll drink and fight some more. So grab your friends and neighbours, and punch them in the eye, and raise another glass and sing a drunken lullaby." I sung, to get the mood a little more relaxed.  
  
"What the hell was that?" Marco asked.  
  
"It is an Irish drinking song done by the Mudmen. Really good band." I told them.  
  
Rachel Rolled her eyes. "Good for them." She said. "Now let's get to work."  
  
{Hmph.} Tobias laughed.  
  
Rachel and Cassie both went out to get the cat. I went with them. Thought I would use my expert climbing skills to go after it if it decided to climb a tree again.  
  
They never really said anything, just kind of walked in the general direction that the cat was in. When they saw the illustrious Fluffer McKitty, the cat simply looked up, sniffed, and went back to it's job doing whatever it was that it was doing.  
  
Rachel leaned over and made little cooing noises and brought her hand down to the cat. The cat came over and sniffed her fingers. When Rachel tried to grab Fluffer, the cat hissed, struck at Rachel's fingers and, you guessed it, climbed up the nearest tree. Different tree than before, but the same type. Nice and big and thick.  
  
"You know, I know how to get it down." I told them.  
  
"Okay, what's your idea?" Cassie asked.  
  
"I could climb the tree and acquire it. It will become docile and I could bring it down for you." I told her.  
  
Rachel shrugged. "No, I think I can do it." She said. She waved Tobias down. "You think you could bring us a mouse or something. I want to lure down the cat from the tree."  
  
{Umm, okay, I guess. You know how hard it is to pick up a mouse that is alive?} Tobias said. With that he flew away.  
  
"What exactly are you planning?" Cassie asked.  
  
"I am going to morph to a mouse and lure it down. I have seen cats act, he will not turn down the chance to hunt." Rachel said with confidence.  
  
"You know, this has a lot of dangers. Sometimes a cat will play around with it's prey for a while, but sometimes they just go for the kill with a bite to the neck. Be careful." Cassie warned.  
  
"Yeah, look out." I told her. I was sincere. "I will do what I can to catch the cat, but I can't guarantee anything. Cats are slippery, elusive beasts."  
  
She nodded her head as Tobias flew down and hovered a few feet above Rachel. Rachel opened her hand and Tobias dropped the mouse in her hand. {Thing wasn't too hard to find, except it is dark out and I can't see too well at night.}  
  
Rachel looked down at her hand. "This is kind of small, don't you think?" Rachel asked.  
  
{Maybe it's a baby?} Tobias inquired.  
  
Cassie looked over. "No, it's a full-grown shrew. The eyes and head are too small."  
  
Rachel gave her a surprised look. "Is there a difference?"  
  
"Not for your purposes."  
  
"How are you guys making out?" I heard Whitney ask as she came to us. Marco and Jake were behind her. Kind of funny considering Whitney was by far the shortest of the three. Jake and Marco were talking, but stopped.  
  
"We were about to lure down Fluffer." Rachel answered, then added. "By means of shrew."  
  
"Well, we were thinking, we should maybe just acquire the damn thing then go home. It feels like it is going to rain." Jake said.  
  
"Yeah, and I have to do some homework. That damn english teacher has been riding me all semester." Marco said. "I can't afford to miss another assignment."  
  
"Well, maybe if you weren't so busy oogling that new foreign girl, you could actually get something done rather than trying to score a date with her." Rachel said.  
  
"Come on, I showed her around the school, she has the hots for me." Marco said with a grin.  
  
"Really, we all know Tobias would probably have a better chance with her than you would." Jake teased. "I mean come on, what kind of pickup line is, 'Want me to buy you a Porsche'? At least Tobias can fly." I am sure if Tobias was human, he would have blushed. But then again, there wouldn't be the bird jokes. I looked over to Tobias, who had his usual hawk stare on. That look scared me.  
  
"I told her I would be a superstar someday, and that was after I had got to know her."  
  
"Oh, guys, just drop it." Rachel said. I need to morph. Go away, so you don't scare the cat. Everyone but Cassie and I left. At least to the opposite corner.  
  
Rachel hopped over the fence and began to morph. Her skin sprouted fur all over like grass on a very quick time movie. Mostly white, a bit of brown. Her arms shrank into nothingness and her shirt sleeves flopped down.  
  
The rest of her body shrunk, even though she still looked mostly human. Her face started to push out right before she disappeared into the tent of her outer clothing.  
  
A couple of seconds later, I could see a little lump running around in the pile.  
  
"Hey Rachel." I said. "What's it like down there?" I waited. No response.  
  
"Rachel, if you can hear us, please respond." Cassie urged. Sill no answer.  
  
"Tobias, you talk to her." I said.  
  
{Rachel, it's me, Tobias. I know you can hear me, so answer.} we waited.  
  
"She must have lost the instinct battle to the shrew. They are small and very weak. They probably have strong hiding instincts." Cassie said.  
  
{Rachel, you are a human girl. We are the Animorphs. You are one of us. Concentrate on who you are.}  
  
I was looking down at the pile of clothes. Out of nowhere, a little rodent scurried out and started running across the yard. I heard a scratching above me, and I had to act fast. I was closer to the tree.  
  
I turned around and saw the black and white cat fall from a low branch, I tried to catch it, but it slipped away. I dived and grabbed for it's feet. I caught it, but the cat turned around and slashed the tops of my hands repeatedly. I didn't let go. I knew Rachel could get hurt. So I grinned ane bared it.  
  
"Pick that cat up!" Cassie said.  
  
Yeah, right. I thought. Good luck.  
  
I picked the cat up and held it under my arm. I started petting it. After only a few seconds, I was able to partially let it go. Believe it or not, the cat was purring and half asleep. Odd for a cat at night. Oh well.  
  
I saw cassie with Rachel, but Rachel was still a shrew.  
  
{Rachel, morph out!} Tobias said. {NOW!} his words were utterly demanding.  
  
"I can't get her to talk to us." Cassie said. She had Rachel in a piece of clothing, so Rachel wouldn't bite her.  
  
Jake, Marco, and Whitney came over.  
  
"What's wrong?" Jake asked.  
  
"We can't get a hold of Rachel. She isn't responding." Cassie said. I was starting to get impatient.  
  
{Rachel, you are a human girl. Remember Xena? I am Tobias. Do you remember me?} Tobias was desperately trying to get Rachel's attention.  
  
{Tobias?} I heard Rachel ask. 


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13  
  
After that episode, we went home. Apparently, what Cassie said was true. The animal instincts had taken over. She was scared of everything and couldn't find herself in the shrew's mind.  
  
She said she was about to take control when the cat jumped at her. Then the shrew's instinct of getting away just took over. The urge to run was just unbeatable, and she couldn't control it.  
  
Then, on top of all that, there was the hunger. She says it's disgusting what shrews eat. She said the shrew smelled maggot on a rotting animal or something. And the grossest thing was that she had actually wanted to eat those maggots. It was really gross.  
  
Anyway, when she had finally shook herself out of the haze, she demorphed. Unfortunately, that was when Cassie had her in the piece of clothing. Apparently, shrews are incredibly fearful creatures. Poor little things.  
  
I went back to our place and told Sam all bout it. He was kind of jealous. He tried not to show it, but it was obvious because he always tried to talk about what he had done and how it was better.  
  
"Yeah, I was practising my telekinesis, and now I can pick up heavy objects like rocks. Cool, Eh?" Was a good example.  
  
The next day, Whitney came by. Just her, nobody else. The three of us hung out all day. We didn't do anything in particular, just hung out. You know.  
  
"So, where are we going?" I asked Whitney as we were on our way into town.  
  
"Not a whole lot, just walking." She replied.  
  
"Why?" Sam asked.  
  
"We need to talk. Has anyone wondered what happened to your parents?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"Nope, why?" Sam asked.  
  
"Just wondering. You have to realize, the both of you have been pulled away from society, how are you dealing with it. I have a good relation with my parents and I would hate to be in your position." She said. "I was just curious."  
  
I shrugged. "I don't know. My dad is gone most of the time and wasn't here for the escape. I saw Sam and Mom both be taken away. I am assuming they are controllers now."  
  
"You don't feel sorry for them?"  
  
"No, I think that what needs to be done needs to be done."  
  
Sam looked at me sideways. "What do you mean?"  
  
I shook my head, "that came out wrong. I was trying to say that sacrifices must be..... no that sounds wrong." I paused. "In war, casualties will happen. As long as they are alive, there is hope. Besides, I think dad is fine. He was far away in Canada at the time, so I don't think that is a problem."  
  
"So you don't care?" Whitney asked.  
  
I shrugged again. "I care, but I have to deal with it and move on. There are no problems here. I feel that the war with the yeerks is more important right now, I will deal with them later. Besides, I have always wanted to live on my own."  
  
"Well, I see there are no problems here." She turned to Sam as we continued to walk. Sam had a look on his face that I could tell he was trying to figure something out.  
  
"Why are you asking us this?" Sam asked. "Did Jake set you up for this?"  
  
"You could say that. He is worried that the two of you will be unstable. I just decided to see for myself. This has nothing to do with Jake."  
  
"But why would it be such a big deal?" I asked.  
  
"Because you two lost everything. Your friends, families, and lives."  
  
"What about Tobias?" Sam asked. "He lost even more than we did, and nobody cares about him."  
  
Whitney shook her head, "No, you are wrong there. You have no idea how much Rachel talks about him in the Gym. She feels very sorry for him."  
  
I was kinda halfway surprised. "Rachel?" I asked, "Xena? You're kidding, you say that she has feelings?"  
  
Sam slapped me upside the head. "Of course she does. She just likes to keep them to herself mostly. It would ruin her outer image if she didn't."  
  
"Good point. She has the whole super-model thing going on. That would look bad." I said.  
  
We began walking back towards home. The day was just getting to about five PM, so we had to get back home. Whitney came with us. Then she decided to press the issue.  
  
"So, Sam, what about your family, won't you miss them?" She asked.  
  
"No. They were great, and funny, but like Gordo said, sometimes there are casualties in war, dealing with it is the problem. As long as I can deal with it, I will be fine."  
  
"I was just wondering, what do you think it was like? Being infested, I mean."  
  
Sam stayed silent for a minute. "I don't want to talk about it."  
  
"Why not?" I asked.  
  
"Because, if I pretend it didn't happen, then it won't bother me much. Besides, we don't have proof that it happened, so maybe it didn't."  
  
"Come on, don't kid yourself. You know more about the way the yeerks operate than we do. You know that since they had a connection with you, they would have been taken hostage right after they thought about you being a possibility, in case you told them something."  
  
"I know, that is why they were looking for me, because they knew you, and I was one of the closest friends you got. I would be a good place to start. Same with Tobias, he was a friend, and therefore a suspect. I know this, but there is no reason that they would go to my family. Too many steps. If it went that fast, then they would be in trouble. They know how people operate. People think aliens are fake now, because there have been so many fakes. Nobody would believe a story, so most people keep to themselves." He stopped and caught his breath.  
  
Whitney came closer. "You have good reason to believe that, but I believe it is farfetched. Hope is good, but don't kid yourself." She said, almost like a wise man's quote. "I do wonder though, what's it like? To be infested. I wonder if it hurts, or if it is neutral. I wonder if the brain learns to accept it. I wonder what would happen if any of us got caught and infested. Would we be able to hide our secrets?" Whitney pondered aloud.  
  
"No, but let's hope none of s learn first hand." Sam said, then we made it into the forest. 


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14  
  
The next Friday we all met up in the barn at Cassie's. It was known as the wildlife rehabilitation clinic. Where Cassie's family took in injured or sick native wildlife and healed them. There were cages lining the walls, full of squirrels, raccoons, foxes, birds, etc. At the end was a bunch of stables, you know for their own horses.  
  
Cassie was up and cleaning assorted cages and stuff. Marco was lolling on a hay bale, Rachel was on another hay-bale, but a bit more attention was paid by her. Meanwhile, Jake was pacing back and forth in front of us. Me, Sam and Tobias were up in the hayloft. There was a big hole in the roof, for throwing down hay, so we could see well. Whitney was also on a bale of hay. And that made up our crew.  
  
"So, what do we do?" Jake asked, continually pacing.  
  
"We go in." Rachel said simply. I will morph Fluffer and go in to see if there is anything weirs going on in there. To see if Melissa is a controller or not."  
  
Marco put his hand up. "And does anyone see a problem with this?" He asked. "Because I do. What are we going to do if she is a controller? Hold her for the three days? Not gonna happen. The yeerks will find her, and then it will be all over. The risk is too big if you ask me."  
  
"Oh, come on Marco, asking a hot girl out is too much of a risk for you." Rachel said, then made herself look all weak. "'Oh no, I can't do this, if I mess up, I will be the laughingstock of the whole class. The world's gonna end.' Too late Marco, you are already the laughingstock of the class." She commented.  
  
"Yes, but they are laughing with me, not at me." He said in his defence.  
  
"Sure that's what you think."  
  
"Let's get back on topic, please." Cassie interrupted. "Marco made a good point, what if she is? What would we do? We can't hold her, too obvious. So what do we do?"  
  
Whitney got up. "Simple, first, we do reconnaisance. If was find out any useful information, then we capitalise. If she is a controller, than we have Rachel. Her and Rachel are good friends, and Melissa growing apart from Rachel would be unnatural, so the yeerk wouldn't want that. We have a 'contact' if you understand what I mean. We would have another person to pay close attention to and maybe get info from."  
  
"Exactly, thanks Whit." Rachel said. "Simple as that."  
  
"So, what do we do? How do we do this?" Jake asked us all. "Rachel will go in as the damn cat, and scope it all out. She will tell us about anything that comes up. Then, next weekend, we will put any information we have to work, preferably in the form of some sort of further infiltration." He summarized.  
  
I leaned over to Sam and whispered. "You know, we won't be able to do much about this. You can't morph, and I am not included. So we are put on the side. You seem to know how to get yourself in trouble, how do you suppose we help?"  
  
"We can't. We need to stay on the sidelines. This is their operation, and therefore there is nothing we can do. Rachel has it under control."  
  
I sighed. "I guess you are right. I still say we be there in case something happens. You know, just in case."  
  
"I guess. But either way, for now we need to stay out of it."  
  
{Good idea.} Tobias said. I had forgot he was there. He was so tired. I also forgot hawk hearing was surprisingly good. {This is Rachel's, and I will be the one to send for help if it is needed. But we are simply going in for recon, nothing else. So stay on the side for now, please.}  
  
"I will, don't worry. Besides. It's not a big deal." I told him.  
  
"Okay, we have decided, for all those in the rafters." Jake said to the both of us. I looked down. He was staring at us. "In case you haven't been listening, Rachel is going to go in on her own. Three of us and Tobias will stay on the sidelines, in case. The rest will stay a clear distance, to keep clutter from going too far. Attention is the last thing we need here. Are we clear."  
  
"Yeah, sure." I answered.  
  
"Yup." Sam added.  
  
"Good, then that means this meeting is over. See you all tomorrow at six in front of Melissa's house." Jake said. Then we all got up and left. We all went our separate ways. Cassie stayed in the barn, Tobias flew off, Jake and Marco went off to play Playstation or something. Rachel went off with Tobias toward the city. Whitney caught us before we left.  
  
"Hey, guys, this Saturday there is a volleyball tournament at the school. I can get us into the license bureau that day. I already have your account ready, I just need a picture and other stuff. I can get you in and out with ID in fifteen minutes. No problems."  
  
"Okay. But we have that thing on Saturday, so we will be pretty tired." I turned and smiled, "No problem." 


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15  
  
The next morning, I woke up. There was no light, then suddenly in a flash of dracon fire, there was. A blinding flash above my head. I got up, startled. I wiped the dirt off my shirt, and looked up.  
  
All around me, thousands of people, all running around frantically, but none seemed to see me. I couldn't tell why. I looked up to the sky again, it was painted in a rock ceiling.  
  
Another blinding flash, and some of the rock fell right on my head, I was confused. What was happening? There were people in a hurry for some reason. I decided to walk around, to see what it was.  
  
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a giant green arm with a blade slashed at me. It took me a while to see what it was attached to, it seemed to emerge from within the crowd. It was a giant lizard, and as I concentrated, the arm seemed to move slower, as did the crowd. This seemed to give me time, I dodged it and ran into the crowd. Another beast lunged at me. Once again, the world slowed down, and I jumped over it's head. A seven foot tall lizard beast, and I simply flipped over it's head. And I didn't even think about it. It was simply reaction, like I had done it a thousand times before.  
  
I stood up behind it and looked at my hands. What is this? I asked myself. This couldn't be real, but I have never felt a dream before.  
  
I turned around to see another claw come at me. This time I couldn't stop it. It hit me square in the face and I could taste the blood as it flew out of my mouth. The green demon and the rest of the world turned blue, and slowed down.  
  
Without even thinking, I jumped three feet into the air and kicked it in the side of it's beaked face. If you could even call it a face. The beast stumbled to it's side. I landed and kicked it up into the air. That was a feat in it's own. The beast seemed almost three hundred pounds, but seemed like a balloon to my feet. It flew a good twenty feet in the air.  
  
Once again, everything was a tinted shade of blue, and everything slowed down. The beast seemed to stop in midair. I jumped, and was above it. I extended my hands and it fell to the ground like it had been in an explosion or something. While I hovered in air. I came down to the ground slowly, looking at my hands. I had done all this without even thinking.  
  
I looked over the heads of the crowd. There seemed to be a disturbance at the other end. I decided to check it out. But yet another green thing attacked me. I decided to run away. I ran into a wall of a McDonalds, and ran up the wall. I kicked off and launched myself a good thirty feet or so. What power I had.  
  
As I descended on the crowd, I separated my hands and the entire crowd cleared away, like I had ordered a spot to land. Like they were pushed, even.  
  
I stood in the crowd. Everyone stared at me and backed away. A blue deer stepped out. Was this another slow mo? No, the rest of the crowd was still moving normal speed. When I looked at the deer again, I realized it was more of a centaur. With a body and head like a human, only smaller. And blue, of course.  
  
It started making hand gestures, but it didn't say anything. Maybe that was because it had no mouth. Only three vertical slits. As it stared at me, it's antlers turned to look at me. I realized they had eyes on the tips of them.  
  
I stared at it as is started to melt. It slowly emerged into a giant beast. A giant dog-beast thing, with four tentacles stuck against it's back. And two little dangly things at the side of it's face. The tentacles just stuck to it's back, but had little spines on the tips of them. They looked like they were poisonous or something. The beast was about twenty feet long, and ten feet tall, when it was on all fours.  
  
It came at me, and I jumped. Way above the beast I jumped. Suddenly, one of the tentacles whipped at me, and I pushed it to the side. Three more came at me, I dodged all three of them. Then they retracted. I landed and it stood up. It was huge. Massive, even.  
  
I looked over to see someone waving their hands, signalling me to leave, but I couldn't hear what she was saying, although she was seriously talking, but I couldn't hear her. She looked urgent.  
  
BOOM!!! A flash of light blinded me. I was thrown into the wall, and went unconscious.  
  
I woke up again in my house. Sam was laying beside me in his sleeping bag. It was all a dream, but all a really convincing dream. It kinda scared me, and I don't know why.  
  
Just a Dream. I told myself. I put my head down and went back to sleep. 


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16  
  
The next night, the school was cluttered. What can I say? It seemed to be a pretty big night. According to whit, it was the championships or something. I dunno. All I knew was that everyone was distracted, and that was good enough for me.  
  
Whitney came outside to meet me, I was playing it safe.  
  
"Morph into that guy." She said. "I can't have you being noticed." I agreed. It would be pretty bad. I morphed underneath the clothing. I was just a bit taller and a bit bulkier, but that was alright, the clothes were baggy.  
  
A few minutes later, I was ready. She directed me into the front doors of the school. "Okay, my mom is a coach, so you need to be inconspicuous, got it?" I nodded my head. "Good, we need to go around the gym and into the basement."  
  
We walked past the gym and Whitney had to stop. "Be right back." She said. I saw her go into the gym. Right into about three hundred people. All those people. I decided to stay behind the wall, maybe it would provide some cover.  
  
A few minutes later, Whitney came back. "Where have you been?" I asked.  
  
She stared at me blankly. "I needed to get the keys. You think they would let it open at any time?"  
  
"Well, um, I guess not." I stuttered. "How did you get them?"  
  
Whitney shrugged, "Told her that I had forgot my stuff in a class and needed the keys. Simple as that." She showed them to me and we went on our way.  
  
When we got to the door, Whitney said to me, "okay, this is the basement. Not really a basement, but good for all the facilities that the school doesn't talk about. Like the licensing and the shooting range." She told me.  
  
My eyes lit up. "A shooting range?" I inquired. "This school has a shooting range? Lucky bastards."  
  
"Not really, it had to be shut down due to bad ventilation or something. It hasn't been used in years. Still, there are probably some guns down here, maybe even some bullets." I smiled.  
  
We walked to the basement and through a short hall. At the end, the door had a plate the simply spelled 'license'. We went in.  
  
"Alright, just give me a minute with this machine. It may take a while, and I need to get some info." Whitney told me. I sat down on the stool.  
  
"So, when were you born?" She asked as she turned on the computer.  
  
"Real or fake?" I asked.  
  
"Fake." She replied.  
  
"February 16, 1986, that makes me seventeen years old." I told her.  
  
She sat at the computer while it booted up. "Good. What about your sex?"  
  
I glared at her.  
  
"Okay, so I can't joke?" She asked as she threw her hands up.  
  
"No, you can't joke." I clarified, "we see you as a serious person. You can't joke."  
  
"Hmph, fine." She looked down and began to type on the computer. "Hair colour? Eye colour, ect?" She asked.  
  
"Umm, blonde, blue. What else?"  
  
So I told her my height, weight, and country of origin. I don't know why. But after a lengthy interrogation, she sat me up facing the camera. I smiled and said, "Cheese!"  
  
"No, you can't do that." She told me. "I think you gotta be serious you can't smile or laugh or anything. This is legal tender. Can't be messed up, damn government."  
  
"Oh, sorry." I said as I straightened out and out a dull look on my face. A second later, the light flashed and I heard a whirring sound.  
  
"That's the machine processing the photo. It will take a minute. Then it will be sent to the computer and from there I can place the information onto the card so you we can print it. Then we laminate it."  
  
"Okay, I think I get it." I said. "What about a social insurance number."  
  
"That will take a few hours. But I can find a way to make it work" She went over to the computer and began to print out the license. She had to put thick paper into the printer. When that was done, she cut it out and put into a laminating machine. A few minutes later, I had a license cool.  
  
"Thank god you know how to do this, because I don't." I told her.  
  
Once she was done with the laminating and such, we went back upstairs. 


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17  
  
Later that night, Jake, Rachel, Cassie, and Marco all were meant to meet up at Melissa's house. Tobias was to keep watch. Somehow this felt right, more right than anything before it. It was as if a little voice was telling me this, but I quickly shook it off and morphed to peregrine falcon.  
  
In the air, I felt like the world was mine, but you know that. The never-ending free feeling of flying was inevitable, but I was going to stay on topic and try to forget about it. But it was sooooo hard.  
  
After trying my best to find Melissa's house in the darkly lit subdivision, I eventually caught sight of a group of four misshapen figures walking around the ground. As much as people say that a falcon's eyes are better than the best telescopes in the world, they are pretty much useless in the dark. In fact, they aren't much better than human's eyes in the dark, so I was pretty scared of hitting power lines.  
  
But I pretty much kept a good thought of that, and steered clear of where there may be power lines.  
  
I was flying around in a circle for a while, deciding where to land. I had to take many options into consideration. Where was Tobias? Where was the house? And what was a safe distance? Stuff like that, so I kept flying until they stopped moving.  
  
Eventually, after a long time trying to locate Tobias, I found a spot to sit. It was in a tree across the street from where they were. It would be safe there and I could hear the conversation.  
  
"Okay guys, I think this is it. We are going in." I heard Jake say. "Ready Rachel?"  
  
"Let's do it!" She said. I couldn't see them, so I can only guess on what they were doing.  
  
"Be careful, Rachel" I heard Cassie say.  
  
"Don't eat any yellow cat litter." Marco said. I could understand Rachel giving Marco a look, it would just be normal.  
  
The three of them backed away while Rachel morphed. It really bothered me that the streetlights were out. Oh, wait. That was why it was darker than usual. The streetlight were out! That was odd. It was plenty dark, and only this section of the street was dark. I thought about talking to Tobias, but I decided against it. He could tell Jake I was here without my knowing.  
  
I could see Rachel's tall, slim body shrink into an equally graceful, furry uniform. I couldn't make out the actual details, but I could see that she was shrinking, and her clothes were falling around her. You'd figure she would have remembered to take her outer clothing off. None of us can morph anything more than skintight clothes. Kind of a bummer, but I guess the andalites weren't worried about clothes, they don't wear any.  
  
Eventually, I saw a little furry cat crawl out of the heap of clothes. It was Rachel in cat morph. Pretty cool, actually. I was kind of wondering what the cat instincts were like. Probably pretty cocky. But no time for that, I had to pay attention.  
  
Rachel the cat jumped up to the nearby fence. It was a wooden fence, and she hopped right up onto it without any problems. But I guess that is a cat.  
  
She walked along the fence for a while, while Jake came and picked up her clothes. Rachel turned around and hissed.  
  
"Okay, I guess I will say away. I am assuming she hasn't got control of the cat's instincts yet." I heard Jake say. I guess it was true, because immediately after Jake left, Rachel leapt off the fence and went over and sniffed a pole for a minute, then peed on it. I guess the cat has strong instincts.  
  
Once again, I debated whether or not I would talk to her to maybe bring her back to her human self. I decided against it when Tobias butted in. {Okay Rachel, get a grip you are Rachel, a human girl. Once again, Rachel you are a human.}  
  
{What?} I heard Rachel say. {I know, I was just... you know, getting into the groove or whatever.} she replied.  
  
{If you say so. If that is the case, then let's get in character in the house now, okay, the two hour clock is ticking. TickTock, TickTock.}  
  
{Okay, Fine, I was just enjoying the agility of the cat. I is a graceful animal.} she said. She walked up to the house and went in the kitty door. A few seconds later, I heard her say, {okay, I'm in. Nothing out of the ordinary right now.}  
  
Her 'voice' was getting weaker, so I decided to fly on top of the house. It was kind of a bold move, but I went the long way, around Tobias and crew. I approached the house from behind and landed on the roof. I could see in what seemed to be Melissa's room. It was an odd design for a suburb house, but it worked just fine.  
  
{Okay, doesn't seem to be anything wrong. Ms chapman is here, doing dishes and stuff. And our favourite vice principal is here in front of the TV. Normal, I guess.} she said.  
"Ask how they are acting." Jake asked Tobias.  
  
{How are they acting? Anything at all out of the ordinary?} Tobias asked.  
  
{Umm, nope. Nothing in particular. The Ms is just sitting there, doing dishes, and chapman is rather zoned out in front of the TV. Seems normal.} she informed us. {oh, wait. Maybe. Would you consider it weird if the volume was almost at mute on the TV and Ms Chapman was just there like a Zombie?} she asked.  
  
{I guess. Sounds like my uncle and aunt to me, so I guess it would be weird.} Tobias laughed.  
  
"Nothing so far. Do some listening in, then report if you see anything odd." Jake said.  
  
{Okay, just watch for a while. Tell us of anything that is of interest.} Tobias relayed the message.  
  
{Alright. Melissa just came down the stairs, so just a minute. Okay, she asked for some help.... the parents shrugged her off.... Melissa's got sad look on face... Going back upstairs, almost in tears.} Rachel said. {Okay, I'm following her.}  
  
Sat down in front of the fence. As did Cassie and Marco.  
  
It was beginning to bother me. Why was I included in Rachel and Tobias's telepathic conversation? They didn't know I was here. Or did they? No, they couldn't know I was here. I left no hints, and they were talking before they could have saw me. Maybe they just saw me as a team member and when it came to talking to the group, I was included no matter what? Who knows. Either way, I felt I was safe for the while. Not like I was getting involved or anything. I was doing no harm here, so Jake wouldn't get mad. 


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 19  
  
The next day, with the help of Marco, Whitney finally finished up the information needed to get me the ID. I was known as Josh Blanchett. I was 5' 10", 210 lbs, and originated from Windsor Ontario. Kind of a stretch, but it worked all the same. I was Josh Blanchett. Simple as that. I had to remind myself that.  
  
I was 18 years old, and live with some buddies in town. I had a SIN number and everything. I was set, I just had to morph and demorph when I was hidden. It was simple.  
  
During Monday that week, I went in and went to my interview. I kept my posture and got acquainted with the warehouse I was to work in. They told me how to inventory stuff and everything, and how to properly stack the furniture to keep it from breaking.  
  
It was a heavily godfearing company and it was always intent to keep the swearing and cursing to a minimum. About three minutes into the tour, I could tell that nobody cared. People were swearing and so on and what not. It looked like a good and fun job. Just enough to keep me in food and clothes. Maybe even some extras. The beginning rate was ten bucks an hour, so I was safe.  
  
The next day, they called me back. Apparently some guy named Brian had quit to go to college or something, so they needed some help. I got the job. And it was really easy. I went in and got acquainted with the other employees. The night foreman was Dutch. His name was Anthony, but everyone called him Toner for some reason. His two cousins were Darren and Manuel. They were only part time, so I wouldn't see them often. We called Manuel Mangina, I could never figure out why.  
  
There were three other full time guys. Matt Louwestein, Kevin Engryman, and John Van Schepen. Kevin and Van Schepen were both grumpy. Matt was cool. He was into wrestling and had the same taste in music as I had. He listened to everything from Eminem to Korn. It was cool. I got along with him really well.  
  
The other two guys were Brennen Bell and Terry sol. Both came in at one every day and worked until they were done. It was a job in which a workload was assigned for the day and the part time guys didn't leave until it was done. That left Toner, Brennan, Terry, Darren and Manuel to finish up.  
  
Darren and Manual came in after school, while Terry and Brennan came in after lunch, so they were all in for a while. I came in at eight every morning. I requested that I went home at five every night and no work on weekends. He said that was fine. They wouldn't need me on weekends and that late anyway. I was in the clear, and I had a job.  
  
I immediately became attached to the place. The workers were fun to work with and the job wasn't at all that difficult to get used to. We would take the pieces off a trailer to put in the warehouse, inventory them, then put them on trailers to go to specific areas in the country. Simple, except you would occasionally get a box that didn't co-operate with you. Then one of the other guys was there to help out.  
  
Terry and Brennan were really cool, always popping out with jokes and stuff. And were always happy. I immediately assumed it was drugs, which it was. Actually, Brennan really reminded me of Marco, but a bit more mature and less whiny. Even looked the same with the dark, tanned skin and the afro. Brennan was even short. It was funny, he was almost a carbon copy or something.  
  
Matt was kind and understanding, so he was fun to work with. He was also incredibly strong and a hard worker. It was fun working with him.  
  
Toner was a different story. He was always preaching, and telling me my ways were wrong, but he was strong and a good worker as well. It depended on the day whether he was grumpy or not. But overall he was cool.  
  
I never really met up with the other guys. Kevin was always whining, and Van Schepen was grumpy.  
  
The boss was alright. He was understanding regarding our situation, and always tried his best to suit our needs, but it was evident that sometimes it wasn't enough and he got frustrated. His name was John Kiers. He was a big guy, and he was hardly ever in the warehouse, except to give us our next batch of work. He was a nice guy, and the good news, he hardly ever fired anyone, unless it was absolutely necessary or if it was beyond his grasp.  
  
I was continually needing to hide in the row or something to demorph every hour or so. Just to be safe. I usually would demorph and remorph on my way when nobody would see me. It was a challenge, but in a mere week, I got used to it. Brennan, for some reason got the time to come up with a nickname. He said I reminded him of someone. My nickname was Gordo. sometime Grodo, and formerly Gordalicious. Outrageous names, but the irony bothered me. My name is Gordon, and therefore he should not be that accurate. Eventually, he told me about the guy that died recently in his school.  
  
I knew he looked familiar. We went to the same school. He must have been one of the guys on one of the teams I used to be in or something. He said I acted like him. I told him I had never heard of a 'Gordon', and that was that. By the end of the week, he had everyone calling me Gordo. It was funny, but I accepted it, and went on. Maybe it would make me feel more at home, being called something closer to my real name.  
  
In only one week, I had generally been accepted, and was Gordo. I netted three hundred bucks, so I was happy. Can't argue with that. My mind was the only part that was tired. My body regenerated every time I morphed, my mind didn't. The morphing leaves you mentally and sometimes physically exhausted. 


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19  
  
The next day, with the help of Marco, Whitney finally finished up the information needed to get me the ID. I was known as Josh Blanchett. I was 5' 10", 210 lbs, and originated from Windsor Ontario. Kind of a stretch, but it worked all the same. I was Josh Blanchett. Simple as that. I had to remind myself that.  
  
I was 18 years old, and live with some buddies in town. I had a SIN number and everything. I was set, I just had to morph and demorph when I was hidden. It was simple.  
  
During Monday that week, I went in and went to my interview. I kept my posture and got acquainted with the warehouse I was to work in. They told me how to inventory stuff and everything, and how to properly stack the furniture to keep it from breaking.  
  
It was a heavily godfearing company and it was always intent to keep the swearing and cursing to a minimum. About three minutes into the tour, I could tell that nobody cared. People were swearing and so on and what not. It looked like a good and fun job. Just enough to keep me in food and clothes. Maybe even some extras. The beginning rate was ten bucks an hour, so I was safe.  
  
The next day, they called me back. Apparently some guy named Brian had quit to go to college or something, so they needed some help. I got the job. And it was really easy. I went in and got acquainted with the other employees. The night foreman was Dutch. His name was Anthony, but everyone called him Toner for some reason. His two cousins were Darren and Manuel. They were only part time, so I wouldn't see them often. We called Manuel Mangina, I could never figure out why.  
  
There were three other full time guys. Matt Louwestein, Kevin Engryman, and John Van Schepen. Kevin and Van Schepen were both grumpy. Matt was cool. He was into wrestling and had the same taste in music as I had. He listened to everything from Eminem to Korn. It was cool. I got along with him really well.  
  
The other two guys were Brennen Bell and Terry sol. Both came in at one every day and worked until they were done. It was a job in which a workload was assigned for the day and the part time guys didn't leave until it was done. That left Toner, Brennan, Terry, Darren and Manuel to finish up.  
  
Darren and Manual came in after school, while Terry and Brennan came in after lunch, so they were all in for a while. I came in at eight every morning. I requested that I went home at five every night and no work on weekends. He said that was fine. They wouldn't need me on weekends and that late anyway. I was in the clear, and I had a job.  
  
I immediately became attached to the place. The workers were fun to work with and the job wasn't at all that difficult to get used to. We would take the pieces off a trailer to put in the warehouse, inventory them, then put them on trailers to go to specific areas in the country. Simple, except you would occasionally get a box that didn't co-operate with you. Then one of the other guys was there to help out.  
  
Terry and Brennan were really cool, always popping out with jokes and stuff. And were always happy. I immediately assumed it was drugs, which it was. Actually, Brennan really reminded me of Marco, but a bit more mature and less whiny. Even looked the same with the dark, tanned skin and the afro. Brennan was even short. It was funny, he was almost a carbon copy or something.  
  
Matt was kind and understanding, so he was fun to work with. He was also incredibly strong and a hard worker. It was fun working with him.  
  
Toner was a different story. He was always preaching, and telling me my ways were wrong, but he was strong and a good worker as well. It depended on the day whether he was grumpy or not. But overall he was cool.  
  
I never really met up with the other guys. Kevin was always whining, and Van Schepen was grumpy.  
  
The boss was alright. He was understanding regarding our situation, and always tried his best to suit our needs, but it was evident that sometimes it wasn't enough and he got frustrated. His name was John Kiers. He was a big guy, and he was hardly ever in the warehouse, except to give us our next batch of work. He was a nice guy, and the good news, he hardly ever fired anyone, unless it was absolutely necessary or if it was beyond his grasp.  
  
I was continually needing to hide in the row or something to demorph every hour or so. Just to be safe. I usually would demorph and remorph on my way when nobody would see me. It was a challenge, but in a mere week, I got used to it. Brennan, for some reason got the time to come up with a nickname. He said I reminded him of someone. My nickname was Gordo. sometime Grodo, and formerly Gordalicious. Outrageous names, but the irony bothered me. My name is Gordon, and therefore he should not be that accurate. Eventually, he told me about the guy that died recently in his school.  
  
I knew he looked familiar. We went to the same school. He must have been one of the guys on one of the teams I used to be in or something. He said I acted like him. I told him I had never heard of a 'Gordon', and that was that. By the end of the week, he had everyone calling me Gordo. It was funny, but I accepted it, and went on. Maybe it would make me feel more at home, being called something closer to my real name.  
  
In only one week, I had generally been accepted, and was Gordo. I netted three hundred bucks, so I was happy. Can't argue with that. My mind was the only part that was tired. My body regenerated every time I morphed, my mind didn't. The morphing leaves you mentally and sometimes physically exhausted. 


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20  
  
The week went on and nothing really important happened. On Saturday, me and Sam were discussing what to do with the money. I said food, Sam said clothes. We both came to an agreement and bought a bit of each. I went cheap with the food and bought us lots of cheap food to last us a week. Sam got us each some pants and some shirts. Baggy, of course. I got a dragon set, and sam got a skull set. You know, button-up shirts and baggy pants. And some black t-shirts. We were good for a week or so.  
  
That day, before the next reconnaisance mission, we cleaned up the shack some more, so it actually looked livable. We also uncovered our secret stash of weapons, and found that we had two hand-held dracon beam weapons. We were pretty surprised, both of us had forgotten about them. Along with them, we found our swords, daggers, and katana's. We hid them elsewhere, and really hid the dracon beams.  
  
We were hoping we wouldn't need them any time soon, for reasons of cover.  
  
{Hi guys.} Tobias said as he swooped in. {Just thought I would tell you that we were in fact going in tonight. At eight.}  
  
"Good to hear." I said. "We were hoping to have a mission." Jake had told us that we were going to be on standby. Rachel didn't know this, but Tobias had told him about the death threat, and Jake had plans. He was going to turn into a flea and ride around on Rachel's back while she was investigating. Just to be safe.  
  
"So, we will be attending this meeting?" Sam asked. He hadn't been informed yet.  
  
"Yeah, Jake wants us to be there this time, but far away, for cover. He is thinking a fight this time. Rachel has apparently decided to with- hold a death threat issued by Visser Three. Jake is worried and wants us there, but not in morph, just for cover." I told him.  
  
"He wants me there?"  
  
{Yes,} Tobias answered for me. {Our resident computer whiz is going to shut out the lights in that area if anything goes wrong.} so that's why the lights were out. Not that I would give any info revealing that I was there.  
  
"Yes, Jake even wants you there. Jake is really touchy right now, and really believes that there will be conflict. So we will all be on duty. He thinks that maybe you could help us understand the situation more. Maybe the Visser will release some info that we don't understand."  
  
{Yeah, so we need you. Jake is REALLY nervous. He needs all of our support.} Tobias explained, saying nothing more than I said. {So please, don't mention any of this to Rachel. She told me and only me about the death threat, so she was kind of trusting me. I was worried and told Jake anyway. You can see where I was coming from.} he urged.  
  
"Okay, I can feel your pain. I will help, as long as Jake recognizes the talent." Sam said.  
  
"I will make sure he does." I told him. I rolled my eyes. Sam was completely arrogant regarding his telekinesis.  
  
"So you don't think I can do much with telekinesis now?" Sam asked, almost like reading my mind.  
  
"How'd you know?" I asked, hoping he couldn't actually read my mind.  
  
"I can read your face. I took some psychology classes. I can tell you are sick of hearing about my telekinesis. But in reality, you are jealous because you can't do it." That was the problem. He was absolutely right. I never really thought about it, but I was kind of extremely jealous. "Watch."  
  
He cocked his head to the side and his eyes glowed. I could see what he was doing. A 2x4 board was picked up out of nowhere, and hovered in front of me. Sam raised his hand and the board levitated upward. Then is started uncontrollably beating me in the ass. I tried to stop it, but my strength was nothing compared to the hovering board. It pissed me off.  
  
"Come on," I said, "Not fair." I got really angry and glared at him. He dropped the board in a fit of laughter. Tobias started laughing too.  
  
Sam let out a few last guffaws, and stopped. "What do you think I have been doing all week. You aren't here, so I practice. That and martial arts. You know. I get bored, so I practice. It's not like I can go to a movie or anything. I am stuck there with the animals. I keep myself busy." He reached into his shirt pocket and picked out two pairs of really cool sunglasses. "We're set for effect." He tossed me a pair.  
  
Mine were, of course, dragons. The frames were black and blue. The lenses had a hologram of dragon eyes. The sides were a sketching of a blue dragon on the black background. They were pretty cool, but Sam's were cooler. His was Red flames on black background. His had a skull hologram in the lenses. I put them on. You could see through the lenses like they weren't even holograms, so they were cool. Both frames were like plastic, but were metal. Pretty cool.  
  
"Those set me back about 25 bucks a piece, so treat them with care." Sam said.  
  
{What are you? The Men In Black?} Tobias asked. 


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21  
  
I met up with Jake, Tobias, Cassie, Marco, Whitney and Sam in front of Melissa's house. Rachel wasn't there. We wanted her to think Jake wasn't there for family reasons. Jake had already acquired the flea. I shuddered at the thought.  
  
"I can't believe you are actually morphing a flea." I said to him.  
  
"Neither can I, but someone has to do it." He shuddered.  
  
"Well, I hope it's safe, this is the smallest thing any of us have morphed. Rachel had that shrew, but this is much smaller." Cassie pointed out.  
  
"Good luck." I encouraged.  
  
Jake stood up. "Whitney, we need you to go do your thing, whatever it may be. Sam, Gordon, keep your distance, only come in if summoned. The rest, I think we are ready to go." He rubbed his hands together. "Let's do it."  
  
"That's Rachel's line." Marco muttered. Cassie laughed.  
  
Whitney morphed to golden eagle and left. I don't know where she went. Sam and I left. As we went, I turned around to see the horrible sight of Jake's body turning hard and shrinking. I looked away and continued to walk.  
  
"So, do you have anything to do?" I asked. "We may be here a while."  
  
"Actually, I do. I thought we could use some hand-eye coordination, so I brought a hacky sack. It will make us look like we were doing something more than we were."  
  
We began to toss around the hacky sack. We were both pretty good.  
  
{Okay, I think Rachel is on her way.} I heard Tobias say from what seemed to be a short distance. Strange, because he was very far away. And usually distance and nothing else made a difference.  
  
"Come on, what happened?" Sam asked. I had missed a hit because of Tobias.  
  
"Nothing, thought I heard something." Once again, I was hearing thought-speech that was probably not directed at me. And it seemed louder than it should have.  
  
"Let's go." Sam urged.  
  
We continued to play around.  
  
{Sorry Rachel, Jake had a family dinner that he absolutely had to attend.} I dropped the sack again.  
  
"What now?" Sam asked.  
  
"Can you hear Tobias?" I asked.  
  
"No, why?"  
  
"Because can, and I don't think he is talking to me. I think he is having a hard time directing the telepathy." I speculated.  
  
"How? I thought it just went to whoever you wanted it to."  
  
"It does, as long as you are concentrating on who it is, maybe he isn't paying attention."  
  
{What? No, Gordon and Sam are at home. It's the suburbs, and if they are seen, then there will be a swat team here in no time.}  
  
"There, did you hear it?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Well, I am worried, maybe you can't hear telepathy, I don't know. Either way, I will need to talk to him about it tomorrow. What if everyone in this area can hear Tobias. That would suck." I said.  
  
"Well, let's get back to the game. We can worry about it later." He grabbed the hacky sack and we continued to bump it back and forth. Doing jesters and rainbows and such. We were both surprisingly good. I guess the martial arts had in some way affected our coordination. I liked that concept.  
  
{Okay, I am ready. Let's go in.} Rachel said.  
  
{Okay, I am latched on, let's hope this goes well.} Jake said. But I don't think Rachel heard it, or she would have said something.  
  
"Okay Sam, these voices aren't helping. I think we need to let up. I can't concentrate. I jeep hearing everyone and I don't know why. I am going to sit down." I went over to the wooden fence and sat down. The suburbs were nice, so not many people were around to see.  
  
"Alright. I will just keep practising." He kept batting at the sack.  
  
{Okay, I'm in. Let's see if chapman is on his way down. It's about the same time, so he should be on his way. Hey, what about Fluffer? Where is he?} Rachel asked.  
  
Tobias answered. {He is far away, down at the park, hunting a mouse or something.}  
  
{Good, because the last thing we need is for the real Fluffer to come barging in. Tell me if he is on the way.}  
  
{Okay, going good so far, let's keep it that way. She has no idea I'm here does she?} Jake asked.  
  
{No, I don't think so.} Tobias said.  
  
{Good, let's keep it that way.}  
  
I closed my eyes, trying to concentrate on the conversation and maybe picture what was happening. Because I had no way to see what was actually happening. All I had was words.  
  
{Okay, I think he is on his way down. I am going in.} Rachel said. 


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22  
  
"Still talking?" Sam asked.  
  
"Yes. Rachel is on the way down into the basement. That's where the Visser and chapman have their meetings. Every week at least. Maybe every night."  
  
"Cool." He said, then he stopped with the hacky sack and pulled something out of one of his back pockets. It was a dracon beam weapon. He tossed it to me. "Here, in case things get ugly."  
  
"Are you sure?" I asked. "There are better ways, besides these things will give away our positions. They are loud and quite the light show."  
  
"I know, but I have found a way to keep them from being as bright. Put the setting to pulse. It will only shoot little bullet like things, so it won't be as inconspicuous as you would think."  
  
I looked down at the handle. All I could see was some sort of shapes and stuff. They looked foreign, but like a language. "How can you read this?" I asked. "It's all in yeerk. And as far as I know, you can't read yeerk. How did you figure this out?"  
  
He sighed. "Come on Gordon, think. I was home alone all week. I tested it on a rock. I tried all the settings so that I knew how to work it." He pointed to the side. It looked like a clock. Two hands, but one circle. It had what seemed to be alien letters. "The one dial is the power setting for the beam. The other is the pulse. The switch there is what changes it. If you look there, you will see a bit of a digital display. That is what setting it is on. The furthest to the left is the weakest, and the right is the strongest." He played with the dials and switches. I noticed that the little pulse dial only went on the bottom, and the beam stayed on the top of the dial. It was pretty cool.  
  
"And the yeerks aren't completely sadistic. They have a safety switch. Right there." He pointed to a button. "Simple really."  
  
I put the gun in my back pocket. It fit in easily.  
  
{Okay. I am here in the basement. The Visser is continuing to abuse this poor Chapman guy. Continues to stress how bad it is, and to put some sort of security up at the school. He is almost worried.} Rachel said.  
  
{Good.} Tobias agreed.  
  
{Well, I am hiding underneath the desk, so I am safe for now.} Rachel continued. {he keeps going on and such. The hologram of him looks pretty cool. Almost real.  
  
{So, what's happening?} I heard Jake ask.  
  
{Wha??} Rachel practically shrieked. {Jake?}  
  
{Yeah. So, what's going on?}  
  
{Jeez Jake, where are you, you almost made me bump into Chapman.}  
  
{I am kind of on you. And why would it matter. I thought Chapman said killing a cat was a bad deed.} he said the last bit in an angered tone.  
  
{Um, yeah, he did, but he also said that anything could be an andalite bandit and not to let me down here again. And what do you mean on me?} Rachel demanded.  
  
{I am a flea, Rachel. And I knew that. Why didn't you tell us?} Jake asked.  
  
{I didn't think it was necessary. And besides....oh, crap.}  
  
{What, I felt a shudder, what's wrong?} Jake asked.  
  
{Chapman jut kicked me. He is eyeing me now. I am in trouble.}  
  
{Good for you. Now, let's figure out how to get out of this.}  
  
{Okay, the Visser just demanded to know why I was here again. Chapman said he hadn't seen me. The Visser just said to catch me and bring me to him. Overall, we are in trouble.} Rachel explained.  
  
"Um, I think our worst fears have just come true." I told Sam, then all the lights in this section in town just went out. More troubles. Actually, that would be a help. I think that was Whitney. She was providing cover.  
  
"What happened?" He asked.  
  
"Rachel has just been caught, and the Visser wants Chapman to bring Rachel to him. Whitney unplugged the town lights for cover. We need to get on the move."  
  
"Where to?" Sam asked.  
  
I thought about where the Visser would go. I scanned of all the places he could hide in town, then I thought about where Chapman could get to easily from here. "The construction site!" I said.  
  
"Where?"  
  
"The abandoned construction site where we met Elfangor and got our powers. It is the only place near where the Visser could land the blade ship." I explained.  
  
"Well, what are we waiting for?"  
  
"We need to wait for orders. The others could take care of it."  
  
"Hmph, not likely."  
  
{Tobias, we need the real Fluffer, now!} Jake said.  
  
{Okay, Chapman has us in a kitty carrier, now we need to stop him.} Rachel said.  
{On it.} Tobias answered.  
  
"They are on their way out to the car in a kitty carrier. We need to act fast." We began to run to the legendary construction site.  
  
{Cassie, we need to keep good track of this.} Marco said. It surprised me that he was in morph. I guess him and Cassie must have morphed, thinking they needed to get out of there. They were right.  
  
{Okay, I have Fluffer, he is on his way to the house.} Tobias informed them.  
  
{We are overhead, we will land where they stop.} Cassie said.  
  
Tobias called to us, {Okay guys, we need you now, keep on guard!} sam nodded his head.  
  
"So you heard that?" I asked.  
  
"Yeah, but it was really faint. I could just barely hear it." he answered.  
  
{Alright, we are on the way.} I said to Tobias.  
  
Sam stopped running. "What did you just do?" He asked, astonished.  
  
I stopped, "I told Tobias that we were on the way." I shrugged. "Why?"  
  
"I thought you couldn't use telepathy outside of morph?"  
  
My face went blank. That's right. Why could I do it? I snapped out of my trance. "Don't worry about it. We can think about it later, right now we have a job to do."  
  
"Agreed." We both started running again to the construction site. 


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23  
  
By the time we had got there, the others were already there. The blade ship, Chapman, and all the other Animorphs except Whitney. She was probably still out in her computer room somewhere. I don't know. Either way, we were outnumbered, and getting in was hard. We stayed on the sidelines, listening in.  
  
The Visser was just coming out of the ship as we got there. I could barely see him beyond the hork-bajir wall. This would be fun.  
  
"What do we do, you think?" I asked Sam, simply wanting to see what he wanted to do.  
  
"We stand by and watch." He answered. Good answer. He wasn't completely stupid.  
  
"Alright guys, what do you think we should do?" Cassie asked. She appeared out of nowhere. So did Marco.  
  
"We standby until something drastic happens." I told them. "Wait to expose ourselves."  
  
"Good thinking." Marco whispered sarcastically. "Actually, I say we bust in there and kick all their asses."  
  
I shook my head and turned back around. I could see the Visser examining Chapman. The cage that contained Rachel was at Chapman's side. The Visser's four eyes were scanning all around. I made sure not to move.  
  
{Didn't I tell you to bring the girl?!} the Visser roared.  
  
Chapman started to tremble. "The h-h-h-osts of the parents a-g-g-g- reed to become voluntary h-h-h-hosts if only you left the girl alone. She knows nothing." He said to the Visser.  
  
{Do you defy me?! I am a Visser, so you wish to lose your life? And the host's as well?} he threatened,  
  
"That would not be good in the eyes of the public. I am what the humans call a principal. That would be a great loss to the community, and rumours would arise." He informed the Visser. Visser three didn't look impressed.  
  
{But you would be of no great loss to me.} he said calmly as he swiped his tail blade.  
FWAPP!  
  
The tail moved faster than my eye could follow. It stopped as it was pressed against the neck of Chapman.  
  
"My host wishes to address you personally." Chapman said.  
  
{Very well.}  
  
{Jake, are you there?} I heard Rachel ask. I ignored her.  
  
Chapman's body slumped down, but the Visser's tail blade kept him steady while he regained his balance.  
  
{V-v-v-v-vish....Vis...Visser three. You and I had a bargain. I would become a host voluntarily for only one reason. My wife and I made a deal to have these things put in our heads with one condition. And that was to keep our daughter out of the way. She does not need to be involved in this. She knows nothing. Just please," he stopped. Then I noticed he was sobbing. "Please don't take my girl." He clenched his fists. " Because if you do, I will fight. And you can ask this yeerk in my head, I can."  
  
He stopped sobbing and straightened himself out. "It is Esplin talking now. You understand, his love for his family overrides even me when it comes to control. He could go out of control in a public place and have us put n what the humans call a mental institution. That would leave me to starve and die."  
  
{I see. Well, you are lucky I have a little andalite bandit to play with, or you would be taxxon meat. Your presence is not required.} he withdrew his tail blade and Chapman was out of there faster than you could shake a stick at. He got in his car and sped off like the hounds of hell were after him.  
  
The Visser picked up the cage that held Rachel and looked in it. {We will have some fun with this andalite bandit.} he said to everyone, then to Rachel, {you are a brave one. Too bad your time is up. We will find the others soon enough.} he threw the cage away and walked into the blade ship. {Pick up the filth. We have some work to do.}  
  
The hork bajir all started piling into the blade ship. I guess Sam had decided it was too much. "Sorry." He said as he got up and shot a hork bajir in the back.  
  
The beast fell with a scream. The sizzling body lay on the ground. "That's enough." He said. Then he shot the hork bajir holding Rachel. The cage fell. All attention was on him. "Well. I see we are in a predicament, Visser. Come out!" He called. "Show your face."  
  
Visser three walked out and stood in the door of the blade ship. I could see Rachel crawl out of the cage that she was in. She started running and hid in a building.  
  
{Well, Well, if it isn't Sam. The almighty. Well, I hate to see you are with odd company these days. How is life treating you?} he sneered. {Your parents say 'hi'}  
  
Sam's eyes flared. He raised the dracon and shot at the Visser.  
  
FLASH!  
  
The blade ship's shields blocked the shot, and the Visser smiled an evil smile with only his eyes. {You fool, you must be travelling with andalites.} one of his eyes stopped at Rachel's cage. Then his other looked. {NOOOOO!} he came out of the ship and began to morph. 


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24  
  
The Visser's relatively small andalite body appeared to turn to stone. Then he shifted and twisted and morphed into what seemed to be the guy from the NeverEnding story. The big rock guy, but more believable. He pushed some hork bajir out of the way, stepped on another one, and went to find Rachel. {Kill him!} he bellowed.  
  
The seven remaining hork bajir raised their guns and pointed them at us. I quickly stripped my outer clothing off and began to morph to hork bajir. Sam smiled at the hork bajir as he picked up the guns out of their hands. His eyes were glowing an intense deep red.  
  
"So sorry, I think you need these." He said as he threw them behind the blade ship. "Too bad." He shot at one, then another. I looked to Marco and Cassie for help, but they weren't there. I jumped out into the clearing to see Visser Three behind the blade ship tearing up building after building looking for Rachel. I could only hope he didn't find her.  
  
I decided to help Sam. He started firing at one after another, but only enough to stun them. I shot at a few. "Thanks." Sam said. He put his gun away and grabbed a knife. At first I wondered where he got it, but I didn't care. He threw it at the nearest hork bajir and it hit him right in the chest. It went down, slowly. Sam dashed forward and I shot at another one.  
  
Sam drop-kicked one in the chest, knocking it over. He 'summoned the knife to his hand and stabbed it into the hork bajir's chest. I shot at any hork bajir that came close to him. It was hard, because they moves so fast.  
  
Then out of a building, came an orange and black blur. It was Jake in tiger morph! He took down one hork bajir. Two came at me and I shot them. Two were on Sam. One was on Jake. We had our work cut out for us.  
  
The two I shot were not down for long, as I had it on stun. And the hork bajir were a bit more bulky than humans. Sam was pushing the hork bajir away with telekinesis. I generally kept the two on me down with the dracon. I turned up the power a bit as they came at me again. I only shot one down before the other got to me.  
  
Sam had eventually gave up and kick vaulted off one and slit the other's throat. It started gushing blood. The one he kicked down got up and dashed at him. He laid on his back and pushed it up high with telepathy. He threw the knife up and it stabbed the hork bajir in the back. It came down on it with a scream. It was horrible. Sam turned it over and pulled out his knife.  
  
Meanwhile, I had a hork bajir on me. We slashed and slashed at each other until I kicked him over. I aimed the gun at him, but he kicked it out of my hands. I slashed down at him and he dodged. I jumped at him, but he raised a knee to my gut. I could feel the gash, but there were no innards coming out, so I continued to fight.  
  
I reached down and picked up the hork bajir by the throat. He tried to slash at my arms with his wrist blades, but they didn't turn that way. So he kicked me. I threw him back and rolled to pick up my dracon beam. I aimed it at him, but he was thrown aside by Sam into the hork bajir that Jake was fighting.  
  
Sam was holding a little burlap bag. It was filled with something.  
  
"What's in the bag?" I asked in my hork bajir voice.  
  
"Who cares." He said. "We need to help Rachel!" He dropped the bag and ran over behind the blade ship where the Visser was still violently tearing at the half-buildings. I saw a cat darting from one building to another. I jumped on the blade ship and fired.  
  
{Get down!} Jake screamed.  
  
"I need to help her!" I replied. He left me alone. I continued to fire at the giant rock wall that was Visser Three. It seemed to do no more than blacken his skin.  
  
He took the time in between building crushing to swing a giant hand at me. The hand was almost as big as I was! I flew of the blade ship and hit a wall. I fell to the ground, huffing and puffing, trying to suck in air.  
  
I eventually got up to see Visser three coming my way. He was running straight at me! I quickly took careful aim and shot directly at his eyes. He clutched his face with the giant hands, and fell to the ground. As a black and white cat dashed directly at me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of yellow swooping in and grab the cat off the ground. The golden eagle that was Whitney just barely made it out from under the huge rock body of Visser Three before he hit the ground.  
  
He lay before me for only a second before getting back up.  
  
{ARRRRGH!} he yelled. {you will pay!} he swung a giant fist at me. I had nothing left to do, and he punched me right through the building behind me.  
  
I seemed to lose consciousness for a second or two because I woke up to see a giant hand ripping through the roof of a building. The moonlight shone in to reveal the ugliest face I had ever seen, with a giant black mark on the left eye. He reached in as a flash of red pierced the night sky. Then five more joined in. He stopped and concentrated on the source of the beams.  
  
I got up to see what was happening. I crawled out the window, and saw a bunch of dracon beams hovering in the air, shooting repeatedly at Visser Three. He shielded his face with one hand and swung at the guns. The guns seemed to react and back away.  
  
He stopped swinging an demorphed. A seemingly bold act. Sam stopped the shooting.  
  
When he was done demorphing, Visser Three said to Sam, {Ah, yes. What a wonderful gift you have been given. Join me and see what true power you possess. I can make your wildest dream come true, we can rule the galaxy together.}  
  
Sam shook his head slowly. "And what, be killed because the novelty wore off? Be your second-hand man? No, you want me under your power to use me, I don't know what type of lame excuses you use on regular humans, but you do not appeal to me. Besides, even if you did try to put a slug in me, you wouldn't be able to control me. Look at the principal, he was able to fight back, and he was simply a pawn. Sorry, but no thanks, I play my own game, not yours." Sam summoned the dracon's to his burlap sack. They all went in, then he aimed and shot, but the Visser had moved within the Blade Ship's shielding system.  
  
{Fool, you will get away this time, but if you consider my offer, I will gladly make you Visser Five, or even Four, and I have that power.}  
  
{Okay guys, I think this is our time to go. Our welcome has been expired.} I heard Jake say.  
  
{Where's the rest of us?} I asked.  
  
{Already gone. We are the only three left. I have already morphed, and am on my way out, I hope you will be able to take care of yourselves?}  
  
{No problem.} I began to demorph, then I put my clothes back on to add to the affect. I looked to the clearing to see that Sam was already gone, and the Visser was cleaning up the mess. I saw a bunch of taxxons come out to finish off the dead hork bajir.  
  
I took this opportunity while the taxxons were feasting on flesh to get out unnoticed. For safety, I walked all the way home the long and twisty way. It was well after midnight by the time I got there.  
  
I flopped on the floor and fell asleep after making sure Sam was there and asleep already 


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25  
  
The next morning, we all got together in Cassie's barn to discuss what we knew. Which wasn't a whole lot more. We had decided that only extreme emotions could brake the bond between human and yeerk.  
  
Me, Sam and Tobias were all in the rafters. Rachel, Whitney and Marco were all on bales of hay. Cassie was applicating medicine to a fox. Jake was pacing.  
  
"So, we know that Chapman became a controller voluntarily. It was actually a noble act to save his daughter." Cassie pointed out.  
  
"I know that Melissa still isn't a controller. I called her this morning to see if she was going to be coming to practice tonight. She said she was, but she wanted to know if I could give her a ride. Something about her parents acting all strange the night before. She was scared." Rachel said.  
  
"Yeah, and why does that make you think she is still safe?" Marco asked.  
  
"Simple." Jake interrupted. "She wouldn't have made mention of it is she was under control, you know how yeerks are when it comes to keeping things secret."  
  
"I see."  
  
"Well, I thought I would bring this up." I said. "Yesterday, when you called us for help, I answered."  
  
He shrugged his shoulders. "So?"  
  
"I answered in thought speech and I wasn't morphed." I told him.  
  
"Oh, can't we do that?" Rachel said as she stared at me. "Did you hear that?"  
  
I shook my head. "No." I switched to telepathy. {Can you hear me?}  
  
Rachel had a confused look on her face. "Yes, I did. How did you do that?"  
  
"I don't know. I just do it like I was in morph." I told her. "What about you?" I asked Sam.  
  
"If you didn't hear me, than no." He answered. "Why, because I have telekinesis?"  
  
"Okay, let's forget about this for a while. We will need to discover what is going on right now." Jake said to everyone.  
  
"Oh, and I think I have another problem." I pointed out.  
  
{What now?} Tobias asked.  
  
"Well, when you were in Chapman's house last night, were any of you directing your thought speech at me?"  
  
"No, not that I know of." Rachel said. "Why?"  
  
"Well, when I was with Sam waiting for some kind of orders, I could hear every detail of your conversation. I was hoping that maybe Tobias was directing it at me because it was either that or everyone within a mile could hear you." I pointed out.  
  
{As far as I knew, I was keeping it to just us, I didn't even think about you when Rachel got in trouble.} Tobias said.  
  
"And I didn't even know you were there." Rachel said. "Don't forget, I was completely in the dark for most of that mission."  
  
"Okay, let's stop and think for a minute. We have a lot of problems that we have to deal with." Jake said. As he tried to keep everyone under control. "Let's calm down."  
  
"Okay, let's just use this to our advantage of the power that we have. Don't question things. Humans care too much about how things work. We don't need to replicate it, so we don't need to analyse it." Sam said. "So leave it be."  
  
"Okay, I need to go. I have to go to a gymnastics meet at noon, so I have to go." Rachel said as she got up to leave. "See you guys later." Tobias just flew out the open hayloft.  
  
"I think this meeting is adjourned." Jake said. "I guess we need to just set back for a while so this can all blow over."  
  
We all agreed and left. sam and I were both confused. We were safe, for now, but not for long. 


	26. Prologe, Sam's Story

The Exile- The short summary.  
  
Sam was a normal teenager, always hanging out with friends and playing video games.  
  
Sam had some friends, though, that gave him abilities and knowledge that surpassed most around him. Steve, a gun expert, has taken Sam through rigorous training and tested him in his knowledge.  
  
Through this training, he learned the many types of guns, and how to shoot them. At twelve years old, no less.  
  
Through the aid of time, the anarchist cookbook, and his own experimental nature, he has also learned how to hack computers, build bombs, and properly use martial arts. Sam, when motivated, can be a dangerous enemy.  
  
Sam didn't hang out on public much. He stuck to a main group of like ten people. including Whitney, Gordon, and Will. (Will the character 'Will' come into play later in the series. In fact, he has been mentioned....)  
  
So when Gordon was at the construction site, Sam was in the dark. The events that followed ended up being what drove him from life.  
  
At the beginning of the invasion, it was from Gordon's perspective and he was riding a bike, doing laps and practicing martial arts, to pass the time at the construction site.  
  
From there, Gordon Saw Whitney and the rest of the Animorphs gang coming home from the mall. They weren't the Animorphs yet, though.  
  
As far as that goes, the rest is history. We all know the events of the first book.  
  
But that left one small problem. The bike was left there, along with a small sample of Gordon's blood. He tripped while running away.  
  
To fill in some holes, that night, Gordon managed to acquire, against the will of all surrounding him, both a morph of Elfangor, and a hork-bajir.  
  
When he left, his bike was left behind, and the yeerks had a way to find him. This led to what is the bulk of my story.  
  
Later on, after the battle of the yeerk pool, Gordon went home to see that his family was being taken. Thinking quickly, he fled and looked for refuge at Cassie's house until the next day.  
  
On that next day, the Animorphs and Gordon decided that if his parents were taken, then the only ones who were in danger of being taken were Sam and Tobias. Those were the only ones who he hung out with.  
  
Since Tobias was trapped in morph, and Sam didn't know anything, they contemplated writing him off. But luckily, they didn't.  
  
When they went to get him, he wasn't home, and the yeerks acted fast. They had already taken his parents. We found the alternate solution.  
  
We figured he was at the paintball field, he was there all the time. We called it area 51.  
  
That battle was also important, considering we ended up burning the entire forest to the ground. The news covered it and Sam was 'presumed dead'. We knew otherwise.  
  
But Sam held a respectable edge. Apparently, he was spying on the yeerks at the sharing for nearly two years. He was a loner by nature, all snipers are, and he disliked public gatherings.  
  
His parents took him and his sister, Sadie there, and he stumbled upon higher level yeerks talking about aliens and andalites.  
  
This piqued his interest, and was doing everything in his power to learn more. How he was able to hide all those times, nobody knows. But he did, and from it he learned more about the yeerk invasion, yeerks, and andalites than any of the rest of the Animorphs put together.  
  
He also knew of how arrogant the andalites are, and even went as far as to develop an almost yeerk hate towards andalites, which comes in later in the story.  
  
As they took him back to the forest, he agreed to help a bit, but he was reluctant. As soon as the rest of the Animorphs tried to sit down and talk to him, he pulled a gun salvaged from the paintball battle and tried to kill them all.  
  
He did this because he thought they were andalites and he knows much about them.  
  
But Gordon was able to calm him down eventually. The Animorphs were cautious not to let him go, knowing who they were, for he could already be taken, and he could be merely playing the helpful prisoner.  
  
So they managed to hold him for three days. He was proven to be safe.  
  
But during this three day stand, Sam and Gordon talked, and figured out some information from each other.  
  
At this point, Sam knew vaguely about his telekinesis, and it was relatively weak. But it was there.  
  
As this three day span went, Sam and Gordon did what they did best. Fight. Gordon had been studying tae kwon do, and Sam knew assorted street fighting and sword fighting.  
  
They practiced like that all the time.  
  
When the three-day span was over, Jake told Sam he was to help with the explosives and plans, that was it. But as you all know Sam, he doesn't take kindly to orders. He convinced Gordon to go along with him back to his house and get some of his sword collection.  
  
And so they did, and of course, it was a trap. But they did get out with the aid of the rest of the Animorphs. Sam had gotten good enough with his telekinesis at this point to knock a hork-bajir off balance, and he was able to hold off the battle long enough for the cavalry to take over.  
  
After this, Jake pretty much told Sam to stay the hell out of the fight, until he was good and strong. Sam claimed he was good and strong, but Jake didn't waver. Jake knew that Sam was a potentially harmful person. And reckless to boot.  
  
After that, Sam's persona was made, and a character is born. He gave but not a damn for what others think, and will do anything to get where he is going. The ends justify the means, even if it required the slaughter of millions to save billions.  
  
As for the rest, I expect you to read my books, this is simply a recap of what you will likely never read otherwise, because the book was written horribly and nothing made sense. Plus, it was horribly deleted in a freak computer crash.  
  
Runa/Samthrax 


End file.
